Finite Middletons
by Jimmy1201
Summary: The Sequel to STD 2018: Feels. Chapter 15: Crystal relates the rest of her time in the baths with Ron
1. Tiny Heroes

**Author's Note**

At the end of STD 2018 Feels, some surviving Yamanouchi Ninjas were taken back in time to approximately two years before Kim Possible, and Ron Stoppable met in pre-K. Two of them, Hirotaka and Yori studied at a Junior College, taking the necessary classes to become Nannies. Their mission is to be close to Kim and Ron to help mold them and train them, so the timeline is 'corrected' and that the Lowardian raiders do not destroy Japan.

Sun Wukong, the Monkey King directed two other Team Cobra members, Wanda Wang, and Suzy Chin to create another Yamanouchi Temple. The goal here is to properly train the Mystical Monkey Master instead of letting them wander around floundering and then solemnly declaring "You are ready" when the going gets tough. That Sun Wukong has a wicked sense of humor was proven when he picked Wendy Wu, née Wanda Wang to be the new "Mistress Sensei."

Also, Ron's mother is now Jeanie Stoppable as Jean Stoppable was a poor choice as his Dad's name was Gene.

There should be nothing else that you need to know except that the author does not repeat anything that happened in the episodes shown on TV text unless this story changed what happened.

Jimmy1201.

**Finite Middletons (Possible House - Kitchen)**

Hiero Misutanani, a senior Ninja, formerly known as Hirotaka of Yamanouchi's Team Cobra, did not personally witness the destruction of his beloved Japan under a hail storm of school bus-sized tungsten-iridium slugs launched by Lowardian Raiders from orbit. The scouring of the 420 inhabited islands that made up the archipelago of Japan was so fast and so complete that the only actual videos of the attack were those taken from weather satellites. Hiero and his partner, Yoriko Tanaka, a senior Ninja formerly known as Yori of Yamanouchi's Team Cobra had even been denied vengeance as the destruction of the Raider fleet was provided by a suicide attack made by Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable using a Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer wielding syntho-creature created by Jim and Tim Possible.

Yamanouchi Ninjas were patient and sometimes spent their entire life hiding in plain sight until the time came when they were needed. For this operation, Hiero and Yoriko were sent back in time fifteen years not to achieve the further vengeance that their souls cried out for, but to repair the timeline itself. The problem was that their goals were not precisely detailed. Their only parameters were:

\- Kim Possible/Ron Stoppable must survive past high school.

\- Shego must not die at the hands of either Kim or Ron.

\- Warmonga's death seems to be bad for future history.

\- Change as little as possible.

Their instructions were to become the children's nannies to train them and be close to them. At the time, that made a lot of sense.

Hiero wrapped his just completed stick of cherry-almond cookie dough in plastic wrap and popped it in the refrigerator. The chilled dough would allow a quick response if required, to handle his young charge and her best friend. He had even used pasteurized eggs to let the cookie dough be eaten raw in an operational emergency. He was, after all, a trained Ninja expected to use his planning and preparation skills in many areas besides sudden death and sabotage.

Looking out the window as he washed the mixing bowl and beaters, he saw James Possible playing with the twins on a blanket in the shade of a large tree. James had taken the day off because he would be working twenty-four hours a day at the Space Center for a three-day-long operation next week and wanted bonding time with his sons.

Hiero and Yoriko had gone into the service to the House of Possible and the House of Stoppable just before the twins were born. Their two years of studies, training, and planning prepared them well for this mission, but not for how quickly their charges and their parents seemed to be making a place in their hearts. This boded well as their tour of duty was expected to last a minimum of fifteen years. Ninja knew about sacrifice and perseverance; this mission was critical in some manner they did not understand to the survival of two future civilizations. More important, from their personal point of view was the prevention of the destruction of Japan and its population. When it came down to cases, this sacrifice wasn't onerous at all, at least not yet. Although, the horror stories of pre-teen girls and their meltdowns that had been passed around in their child-rearing classes made Hiero glad to have Yoriko for backup.

Looking at the clock, he thought that Kimberly and Ronald should be getting off the bus bringing them home from kindergarten any time now. Yoriko would have watched the pair get on the bus at the school and shadowed them to their stop at the corner. Earlier in the week, little Kimberly had complained that they were 'big kids now' and didn't need an escort for the half a block to her house. For the time being, Yoriko was an unseen guardian.

He had dried the bowl and put it on the shelf when he heard the front door quietly open and close along with youthful whispering.

"Hiero! Come quick! Jim and Tim are about to get into trouble!" Ronald Stoppable called out in a panicked voice and ran up the stairs towards the twin's bedroom.

Kimberly Ann Possible lay flat on her stomach on the living room floor, peeking under the couch. Seeing Ron's feet run past and then, mere seconds later, the much larger sneakers of the man dressed in black went by, she counted to three, vaulted over the couch, and raced into the kitchen. Her best friend in the whole world had bought her maybe thirty precious seconds to reach her goal, grab the treasure, and escape.

Pushing a chair against the refrigerator, she climbed up on the seat, and using the chair back to spring off of, she snagged the box of chocolate covered marshmallow cookies sitting 'out of reach' on the top of the fridge and landed on the floor in a three-point stance. Racing to freedom, or at least the front room, she found her path blocked by the Dark Ninja.

"Kim Possible! We meet again!" laughed the Dark Ninja, "My associate the Winter Ninja has already captured your partner…"

"You won't get away with this, Dark Ninja!" Kim clutched the box of cookies closer to her chest and leaped into action with a flying spin kick only for the Dark Ninja to step to the side and snatch the airborne child in mid-leap.

"Ah, Kim Possible, your mantis style is weak, child. We will work on it before bedtime," he said with an evil laugh…

**Finite Middletons (Possible House - Laundry/Mud Room)**

The two very young heroes found themselves chained to the wall in the laundry, their hands over their heads.

"Sorry KP, your dad is already home and is playing with Jim and Tim in the backyard. Hiero, uh, the Dark Ninja, knew it was a trick," the young blonde said.

"That's OK Ronnie, we should have looked first." the young redhead checked her chains to find that they were locked with a padlock. "Why don't you have a hero name?"

"I'm the sidekick. Only heroes get a special name. Like the Lone Ranger and Tonto or Darkwing Duck and Launchpad McQuack. Except we're called the KP and Ron."

"Why can't I be Kimmy Possible?"

"Cause then bad guys would know who you are," Ron patiently explained, "I think you're supposed to wear glasses or something when you're not being KP."

The door to the kitchen opened, and Dr. Anne Possible walked in, "Hi, kids, where are the boys?"

"Hi, Mom, they're in the backyard with Daddy," her young daughter answered.

"OK, have fun, you two," the adult redhead walked out the back door, a mom on a mission.

The kitchen door opened again, and two masked figures in Ninja garb walked in, a man dressed all in black with his female companion covered from head to toe in white.

"Winter Ninja," asked the one dressed in black, "what shall we do with these goody-goody heroes? Feed them to the sharks?"

"I'm sorry, Dark Ninja, but the sharks haven't arrived yet." The Winter Ninja put a tray covered with a towel on the washing machine.

"Let the Tigers feast on them?"

"The Tigers are visiting family at the zoo, sir."

"Call out the Cannibal squirrels?" At this suggestion from the Dark Ninja, the blond and the redhead giggled.

"Turns out we were sent the wrong ones, ours only eat nuts, sir."

"Wait, if they are cannibal squirrels, wouldn't that mean that they eat other squirrels and not people?" asked the blond.

"Don't you have something we can use to silence these lippy heroes, Winter Ninja?"

"Hai," the white-clad villainess reached over and pulled the towel off the tray exposing the green instruments of terror…"

**Finite Middletons (Possible House - Backyard)**

James scooped up a butt-naked Jim and tossed him up in the air, the toddler laughing with delight. Handing him to Anne, he reached for Tim who was trying to crawl away, "See, just like Momma said, let them play naked outside in a little bit of sun, and their rash will clear right up."

"Let's get these guys diapered, and I'll get some private time with them," Anne said, moving with Jim to sit on the glider under the shade tree while James brought over Tim and the diaper bag. Anne unclipped the front of her blouse, and soon both twins were latched on and nursing.

James plumped pillows under Anne's arms to help support his sons who were being held like the most precious footballs in the world.

"Can I get you anything, honey?" James knew that she really liked a solid half hour or so with just her sons to unwind from the stress of the day. "Perhaps some iced tea or lemonade in about a half hour?"

She looked at the precious bundles in her arms, "Some decaf iced tea would be nice, please and thank you. Maybe Hiero has made cookies…" Anne's reply was interrupted by a pair of shrieks from the back of the house.

**Finite Middletons (Possible House - Laundry/Mud Room)**

"Perhaps we will make them eat…" the Winter Ninja held up a broccoli stalk while laughing evilly.

"Nooooooo!", both heroes shrieked in wildly exaggerated terror.

**Finite Middletons (Possible House - Backyard)**

"Decaf tea in about a half hour, then, honey," James bent over and kissed his wife, "I'd better go see how Kimmie-cub is doing with the villains."

"OK, dear, don't do it all for them," Anne laughed softly, raising her face to get one more kiss.

James walked into the mudroom and looked at the two captured heroes who were left alone to suffer by their foes, "You know, back in my day, I never had Ninjas making me eat broccoli. Those darned Ninja."

Kim was struggling to hold the padlock on her chains steady while putting tension on the lock cylinder with a flat wire from a hair barrette and bumping the pins with a round wire from a second barrette. Ron was trying to reach the lock to help.

"Ronald, can you reach over and hold the lock for Kimmie-cub? Kimmie-cub, can you move your chains closer to Ronald?"

The little blond redoubled his efforts to stretch as far as he could and just managed to grab onto the lock, helped by her moving the lock closer to him.

"Hold it steady, Ronnie," the little redhead worked as fast as she could bumping the pins. From experience, she knew it wouldn't be long before her partner's muscles started to tremble because of the awkward stretch of his arm.

"Just a little longer…"

'*CLICK*'

"KP! You did it!", Ron cheered as the lock popped open.

"OK, Ronnie, now do yours," Kimberly chirped, handing her hair clips to her friend.

The young hero struggled with his lock and was starting to show frustration when slender adult fingers covered his,

"Ronnie-chan, you are trying too hard," a soft feminine voice said, "Close your eyes and imagine the lock in your mind. It is the same as the clear locks that James-sensei has been letting you practice with, just a little smaller."

About thirty seconds later, Ron's lock popped open. He beamed with pride as his best friend cheered.

James asked, "Yoriko, would you and Ron like to stay for dinner? Gene and Jeanie are not going to be home until tomorrow night, right?"

"We would be delighted to have dinner with you and your family," she replied as both children cheered.

"Great!" James replied, "You kids run and play for a bit before supper, OK?"

"How many pins were in the padlocks?" the engineer asked Ron's nanny after the two had scampered off.

"Only two," she replied, "still, going from two to six is not that hard. If you will excuse me, I will go see if Hiero needs help with anything." The young Japanese woman and went into the kitchen, picking up the tray with the leftover broccoli torture and taking it with her.

James thought, 'In my day, we didn't have live-in Ninja helping the family and playing hero versus supervillain.'

Not that he was going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

**Finite Middletons (Walking from Possible House to Stoppable House)**

"Did you have a good day at school, Ronnie-chan?" the young woman dressed in white asked as she walked down the sidewalk holding his hand. The motorcycle she shared with Hiero was parked at the Possibles. She would pick it up in the morning after she walked Ron back to catch the school bus with Kimberly.

"It was a great day Yoriko! We had tacos for lunch with two cookies! Kimmy and I played ball with Jessica and Alex, we read a book about this little bat that got lost, and this momma bird finds her and tries to raise her by feeding her bugs instead of fruit. They made her sit up instead of hanging upside down, and they wanted her to sleep at night."

"That sounds most terrible for the little bat. What happens?"

"Some other fruit bats find her and take her back to her mother."

"Did the mother bat miss the little girl bat?"

"Yes, she was so happy when she came home. She hugged her and covered her with kisses."

"Do you think the bats that found her and returned her to her family were heroes?"

"Don't heroes fight bad guys? These bats just found her and took her home."

"Was the momma bird a bad guy? She didn't take the baby bat home…"

"I don't think so. She wanted to treat the baby bat like it was one of her babies; she didn't know how to take care of a baby bat."

"Maybe sometimes heroes are just people who help others?"

"Maybe the good bats were Ninja! Bats would make great Ninja, they are quiet and fly around at night…"

His escort laughed, thinking, 'Ronnie-chan, you have the American style way of looking at things."

**Finite Middletons (Possible House - Master Bedroom)**

Anne sleepily woke to small noises from her sons. Reaching out to the side, she felt James sleeping like a log beside her. She felt a bit 'full' and some nursing would be good. A dark, silent shadow cradling the two lighter colored shapes that were her sons appeared by her side of the bed.

"Anne-sensei?" a quiet voice murmured in the dark, "May I present Jim and Tim?"

Used to the drill by now, she reached up for the first bundle, seeing sleepy eyes sparkling in the dim light and smelling the fresh scent of baby powder, wipes, and lotion that came with a freshly changed infant. From the infant's own unique smell, this was Tim. Cradling him at her side, he happily latched on and started his middle of the night feeding.

Reaching for the second son, she cuddled him into position and drifted off back to sleep.

Sometime later, Jim was softly lifted up, and she felt gentle fingers pull on Tim's lips to break the vacuum where he was still latched on to his mom's breast in his sleep. Now detached, Tim's weight vanished as he was picked up.

"Thanks, Hiero," she sleepily murmured.

"It was no trouble, Sensei," the dark shape whispered and vanished into the night with her sons.

Rolling over on her side to snuggle against James, she remembered that five years ago with Kimmy, she had gotten up in the middle of the night to change and nurse her new daughter; it made no sense for James to wake up to bring in the baby. He needed his sleep. They were saving some of his paternity leave to use once hers ran out. Now with Hiero, she and James got more sleep.

The first few times that Hiero picked up a son to put the sleeping child back to bed, she had woken startled, in a panic. She had quickly adjusted, and her increasing levels of rest provided proof of the value of a Night Nanny Ninja. James knew the value because Hiero generally had the weekends off, her husband picked up the slack in baby fetching on Friday and Saturday nights.

At times, she felt a little guilty about using Hiero to fetch her babies, almost like she was a queen or something. There was something about him and Yoriko, the young woman who worked for the Stoppables. As much as they jokingly called them 'Nanny Ninja,' there was no doubt in her mind that if Ninja existed in these modern times that these two were Ninja.

**Finite Middletons (Possible House)**

"Kimmy, Sweetie," asked her mom, "Did you get enough to eat?"

"Yes, Mom. Can I please be excused?"

"Yes, you may be excused. Yoriko and Ronald should be here any minute."

"OK!" The little redhead ran off to wash her face and the sticky off her hands; breakfast was pancakes and eggs.

"Does anyone else want another pancake or an egg?" Anne liked to cook breakfast, and she was taking advantage of a day with no morning surgeries or meetings scheduled.

"No honey, I'm good, in fact, I'd better get going so I won't be late." James stood up, kissed his sons and his wife and started out the door into the front room. Running into a small redhead returning with clean but damp hands and face, he swept her up into a hug, saying, "Be a good girl in school, learn lots of stuff, OK, Kimmie-cub?"

"Yes, daddy!"

"Hiero, what do you have planned for the boys today?" asked the mom as her husband left for work.

"Anne-sensei, I thought we would start with stacking plastic bowls and then do some taiko drumming practice with wooden spatulas. After a short nap, we'll go to the park and do a lap or two around the fountain. After a milk break, they will practice storming fortified defenses using the climbing bars. Then it is back home for more milk and a nap. Later, I was thinking of swim practice in the large soaking tub."

Anne smiled at the description. She knew that Hiero was exaggerating to get a reaction from Kimmy.

"Hey! I want to storm fences in the park!", the eldest little Possible declared.

"Then Kimmy-chan, I will wait until you and Ron-chan return from school and maybe Yoriko can accompany us, and we can all practice together."

"Tadaima!" Ron shouted at the front door.

"Okaerinasai!" replied Kim, running to hug her mom, "Gotta go, Mom; Ronnie's here! Ronnie! We get to storm fences after school!"

"Ohayou, Anne-sensei," Yoriko said from the door, holding it open for the redhead to zip past carrying her backpack.

"Hi, Yoriko,"

The front door closed and the house was quiet except for the two boys babbling at each other and the clattering of dishes as Hiero loaded the dishwasher.

"Will you be home in time for dinner, Sensei?"

"I should be. Say, I was wondering, at night, why do you always bring in both boys to nurse? Are you trying to make it easier on me?"

"I have never seen just one wake up, Sensei. I am not experienced with twins, but your sons are amazing. They have a special bond of closeness. Or perhaps they are each afraid to sleep while their brother is awake because they will miss something. I have listened to them babble. Perhaps it is my imagination, but I believe they will be the kind of brothers that finish each other's sentences."

"Any plans for this weekend?" It was Friday, Hiero was officially off duty after dinner until late Sunday night.

"Yoriko and I are going to a presentation at the ski lodge and will spend the weekend there."

"What's the presentation about?"

The young man laughed, "Sensei, I do not recall, but since Yoriko will be there, I am sure I will find it fascinating…"

**Finite Middletons (Neighborhood Park)**

It was a beautiful day in the park. Yoriko and Hiero with their charges were playing "storm the lair." There was an igloo-shaped set of climbing bars that had automatic defenses installed by Yoriko and Hiero while the twins were having an afternoon nap in a stroller parked in the shade. They had found large, battery-operated plastic crows with motion detector 'eyes' that would squirt water when triggered. The original purpose was to keep animals out of the yard, but they also worked for simulating automatic laser guns.

Tim and Jim were well into the "cruising" phase of mobility and were starting to take steps. Hiero was already preparing for the time, any day now, when he would have to chase after the twins in their "fast and stupid" phase of toddler development. But he was a trained Ninja; he would not fail…

Kimberly and her soggy best friend Ronald had made it to the top three times, the redhead instinctively realizing the water squirting crows had a reset time allowing her to slip past if she paid attention. Ronald wasn't as observant, he could follow her path, but had trouble recreating her timing.

Jim and Tim spotted a new target, let go of the bars they were hanging onto and tottered over to crash into the woman's legs.

"Mistress Sensei," Hiero bowed respectfully, "how can this humble Ninja be of service?"

The tall Japanese woman rolled her eyes a little at the premature and, to her mind, pompous title and replied,

"I was in the area and thought that I'd drop by and see how the bouyatachi were doing. I like your training setup." (A/N 'bouyatachi' is literally "little dudes" in Japanese - it was what the Yakuza called the Twins in a previous timeline.)

"Go, KP. Go!" They looked up to see Kimberly swinging on a rope after leaping from the top of the 'lair' under the watchful eye of Yoriko and with the enthusiastic cheering of her best friend.

"Maybe her next birthday will be a good time for a grapple gun?" laughed Wendy the 'Mistress Sensei,' bending over to scoop up an armload of squealing toddlers.

"Perhaps when she turns nine, maybe ten?" replied Hiero, shuddering when he imagined trying to keep up with running toddlers and a six-year-old little Miss Tarzan. Even one without a grappling gun.

"The boy, on the other hand, seems to be too much of a cheerleader. I suppose Yoriko shouldn't try to make him more aggressive yet," Mistress Sensei pondered.

**Credits, extra character notes and my "I don't own this statement" are in my profile.**


	2. Summer Camp before 5th Grade

*** **_**Summer Camp**_** ***

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment, under construction)**

"Master Kahn, Master Po, welcome to what will become the new Yamanouchi Temple or as we are calling it publicly the Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment. Please forgive my appearance, I only have periodic access to the Lotus Blade and must work when I can," said the slightly dusty Wendy Wu, walking into a partially finished meeting room. The room had a roughed-in fireplace, but several space heaters made the room comfortably warm. Subira escorted the two Shaolin monks into the meeting room. The older monk was dressed in gray, traditional cut attire; the younger one dressed "American casual" in black pants and a black polo shirt.

"We understand, Mistress Sensei, in fact, we were hoping to see the Lotus Blade, if that is permitted," the younger monk said.

"Please, my name is Wendy Wu, it seems arrogant to be called Mistress Sensei of an uncompleted temple." She pulled a chain from around her neck, and as she held it out, it changed into a Jian sword. (Ancient Chinese short sword with a straight blade.)

"May I hold it?" he asked.

"You may try, it can sometimes be cantankerous," she presented the sword by holding it by the point while laying the blade over her other arm with the grip end towards him.

He took the blade reverently and held it so he could examine the symbols engraved in the steel. "The Blade of Toshimiru and you use it to carve rock," he spoke in awe, "I can feel the emotion from it!?"

He held the sword out for Wendy to take it back, "Wendy-sama, the blade feels happy… Building a temple to educate and train youth is a more noble and satisfying occupation than training fighters. It was a terrible day indeed when Lord Toshimiru was forced to seek a new home in Japan."

Wendy took the sword, carried it over to the unfinished fireplace and changing it to the shape of a giant arrow, allowed it to fly up the chimney, presumably back to Japan and its silk-lined case in the original Yamanouchi Temple.

"Masters," she turned to address the Monks, "it is getting rather late in the day, my day at least, perhaps we could go out to dinner and discuss the boy's acceptability to accompanying the young Miss Possible to your Monastery for Kung Fu and spiritual training?"

"Wendy-san." Subira interrupted, "I have taken the liberty of ordering out, the food should arrive in fifteen minutes. We met with Ronald at his house; he insisted on making them lunch."

"Oh my," Wendy said, "How did that go?

**Finite Middletons (Stoppable Residence, Earlier that Day)**

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Yoriko paused on her way out the door.

"Yeah, I figure it will be more impressive if I do this on my own. Thanks for the offer," Ron would have the house to himself, all the better to meet with Subira and the two Chinese Shaolin Masters.

He double checked all his preparations (for the third time) and ran to the door when there was a knock.

Opening the door, he bowed politely, "Subira-sama, gentlemen, Welcome to my home. I am Ronald Stoppable, and I am pleased that you could meet me for lunch. Please come in."

"Ronald-kun," Subira gestured to the gentlemen standing beside her, "This is Master Kahn and Master Po of the Shaolin school where Kimberly's Nana studied as a girl. They wish to speak to you to see if you would be suitable for coming to a summer camp to study Buddhism and Kung Fu."

"How about we talk while we eat." Ron guided everyone to the kitchen table, "Subira told me that you were Shaolin and a web search suggested that vegetarian would be good." Yoriko had told him that serving family style would be fine, so he moved serving bowls with food from the oven to the table. He pointed to his offerings, saying "This is refried beans, which is odd since they aren't fried but are pinto beans cooked in water with vegetable oil and then mashed. The salad is a simple mix of shredded lettuce with a little onion, green pepper, and tomato. I didn't know if cheese was OK, so the shredded Cheddar cheese and the queso, uh, that's a spicy cheese sauce, is in these containers. The corn tortillas are just corn flour treated with lime, mixed with water and made into a dough, flattened and grilled. The rice is just white long-grain rice. And these," he continued holding up a Diablo sauce packet as if it was the key to the mystery of life itself, "is Diablo Sauce, it's made of water, vinegar, spices plus a blend of hot peppers. I got them from a restaurant called Bueno Nacho in Go City. The rest I made fresh just now."

The Shaolin monks smiled at the earnestness of the young man and selected food to try. Subira told Ronald to sit, that she would fetch drinks.

"Tell us about yourself Ronald…" said Master Kahn.

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment, meeting with Masters Po and Kahn)**

For dinner, Subira has selected take-out from an Indian restaurant. After Subira and Wendy spread containers and carafes of cold water out on the table, everyone served themselves. Wendy liked informality and planned on keeping it even after the temple was fully staffed and had a student body.

"So what did you find out about Ronald?" Wendy asked.

Master Kahn looked annoyed, but Subira had decided that it was just his resting expression. Master Po, with his resting expression of serene happiness, said,

"We found that Ronald Stoppable is a friendly and considerate young man. His attention to such a small thing as making sure we had an all-vegetarian lunch was surprising. While he prepared simple dishes for lunch, they were very well made and presented. But he talked little about his achievements and skills. Subira-san even gently suggested to the boy that he tell us why he should be picked."

Master Kahn took over while his partner chewed on a strip of bread, "Within less than a minute, he had drifted over to tell us about how great his best friend Kimberly Ann was and how we should pick her for the camp. We heard about his parents, her parents, her brothers and a lot about their two caretakers. But very little about himself. Almost as if the boy was invisible even to his own mind. Arrogance and pride are evils to be avoided, but the boy has gone too far."

After taking a sip of water, Po finished,

"After lunch, we went into the backyard, and I asked to show him a move or two. He has been exposed to Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu, but not formally trained in it. He had no familiarity with Wing Chun but seemed to pick up the general concepts quickly. In general, I think he would be a good, solid student and both he and our temple would benefit from his time spent with us. However, I also strongly believe that he should be a student of Yamanouchi, not us."

"What about Kimberly?" Wanda asked.

Master Kahn spoke up, "I believe that young Kimberly would be an outstanding student anywhere she goes. I would prefer that she study at Yamanouchi, but we cannot refuse a request from Amanda Possible. For us to refuse a request from her would be dishonorable given her service to China."

"Please forgive me, masters, but why Yamanouchi and not your Shaolin temple? I would have assumed you would have recommended your temple with its greater emphasis on a student's spiritual development and morality," Subira asked, genuinely curious.

Master Kahn dropped into lecture mode, "Around 336AD Murong Huang demanded that the Lotus Blade and the associated Mystical Monkey Power be dedicated to his military and placed under his sole control. Lord Toshimiru did not agree with Huang's strict and harsh enforcement of laws and regulations, and so he left for Japan with the Monkey King Sun Wukong's blessing to make a new home there. China's influence over mystical powers of all types seemed to have lessened when the MMP went to Japan, and I believe that we are poorer for that."

Master Po smiled serenely, "As evidence that this truth persists to this day, I will point out that the only person in this room who has spoken to the Monkey King and handles the Lotus Blade is Mistress Sensei." He nodded to Wendy.

"We believe," he continued, "that young Ronald and young Kimberly tie directly into Sun Wukong's plans or prophecies and believe that association with the Ninja of Yamanouchi would be better than with our Shaolin monks."

**Finite Middletons (China, Summer before Fifth Grade)**

'This is so cool,' Kimberly Ann Possible thought as she completed the White Crane Flashing Wings form and transitioned into the first Brush Knee in the Tai Chi Forty Movement form. She had been here ten days and was having the time of her young life. She got up every morning, crack of dawn, helped the cooking staff for about an hour then went with the rest of the students for a morning run. The run was to the nearby foothills and back; it was a little over five kilometers. After their run, everyone did Tai Chi together in the field just outside the monastery.

The middle of the week was rainy, and she was surprised that the morning routine was the same rain or shine. After spending much of the morning cold, wet, and miserable, one of the exercise leaders remarked that "There is no such thing as bad weather, only poor clothing choices." So now she carried a little rain poncho everywhere she went.

Next up on her schedule: breakfast.

Her Chinese was coming along a lot slower than she would have liked, several of the most senior students spoke excellent English, but there wasn't a lot of slack time to interact with them. Nana was fluent in Chinese but, except for their one shared class, she seemed to be busy working and meeting with the senior masters. There were only a few kids her age, just a couple who spoke any English at all. She carried around a small whiteboard and markers, she was hoping that the small amount of Japanese kanji she knew would help, but it turned out that drawing simple sketches was more effective. By the time she finished here, she was going to be a black belt Pictionary Master.

"Yanwoo!", Turning around, Kim saw Ping Cha, a girl about her age running up to greet her. Her English was much better than Kim's Chinese, she was friendly, and they had been trying to hang out together in the limited free time that they shared. The name Ping called her was a gentle tease; it meant 'smoke' and referred to the one time she tried to help the kitchen staff by starting the water to boil for rice. Ping's teasing was good-natured, the other name she was known as was "Shāo shuǐ" (burns water). Kim didn't care for that one, but "Smoke" was a pretty cool nickname.

Walking to the serving area for breakfast, they picked up trays and walked over to the people serving up food who insisted they show their biceps by flexing their arms. The cooks would then shake their heads in dismay at their young students and declare,

"E-yah! Too skinny. Must eat better!" and load the youngsters down with a hearty breakfast.

The cooks seemed to have a mission to "put more meat on the bones" of all the younger students, not just Kim and Ping.

Kim walked over to a table with a bowl of rice porridge heaped with fried tofu, sprouts and bamboo shoots along with a steamed pork dumpling. Ping came away with vegetable soup with tofu, fried vegetable dumplings, along with a plate loaded with flatbread and a pile of pickled vegetables for them to share.

As they ate, Ping took her markers and whiteboard to sketch out where she wanted them to go on their next free day. Ping was a fantastic artist, once she drew caricatures of Kim, Nana, and several of the Masters. All her characters were easily recognizable. Kim offered her paper so she could have Ping make her drawings she could take back, but Ping refused, something about that it was a private joke that not all would find funny. Her plan was for them to go into the mountains where there was a hot spring. Her map was detailed, and she even sketched the springs from memory.

After breakfast, Kimberly did chores alongside Ping. After her 'smoky' performance in the kitchens, The cooks moved her to cleanup assignments. Ping said that she thought that she could get them on a detail that would have them repairing the outside of buildings using climbing ropes. The redhead was looking forward to that. She knew philosophically that sweeping and scrubbing was dignified and vital work, but climbing and swinging on ropes would be more fun.

Her late afternoon class was on Páng Láng Quán or Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu. She loved that class because both Ping and Nana were in it. Nana had never studied that form, but, being an expert in other styles helped her learn this one much faster than her granddaughter and her granddaughter's artist friend. Still, Kimberly enjoyed having a real martial arts class with her Nana as a fellow student.

In the evenings, she got to work with one of the masters one-on-one, Master Po was her favorite; his English was excellent; he was patient and soft-spoken. The exciting part of tonight's class was that Nana would be there as an instructor. The course was split with Master Po speaking on the Eightfold Path (tonight he was specifically speaking on the Principle of Right Action). Not a typical lecture-only class, he and Nana would run their five senior students (six including Kim) through practice katas of Pán Lóng Quán (Striking Dragon Fist) which was Nana's favorite style.

While everyone was slowly trying to do the kata correctly, Master Po would talk and ask questions of the students. At the same time, the two instructors would correct the form of the individual students. For the second half of the class, the students would perform the katas at full speed without the distraction of talk of morality and such.

At the end of class, Nana would perform a short sparring session with a volunteer. Tonight, Kim was not allowed to volunteer because in their last meeting she managed to pull off an attack faster than anyone was expecting, and she was slammed to the ground harder than her elderly grandmother intended. The young student still had a large, painful bruise on her side and some pride in being able to 'surprise' her grandmother.

**Finite Middletons (Camp Wannaweep, Summer before Fifth Grade)**

"Hey Squeeb, got my swim tickets?" Gil Moss sneered as he swaggered up to the pavilion where Ron was sitting working on another lanyard.

Ron smiled back at his best customer, "Maybe, what do ya have for trade?"

Ron sounded tougher than he looked. He had a bit of a black eye and bruise over one cheek and was covered in spots of calamine lotion for bug bites. Between the bugs and the bullies, it was a pretty tough first four days. Yoriko was away doing something, so he called his mom begging to come home. She stopped taking his calls after the fourth day.

At the beginning of the camp, the staff swore that the toxic pollution from the discarded makeup dump at the neighboring clown camp had been cleaned up and the water was perfectly safe. Still, Ron thought that the lake water had a greasy feel to it and stank of chemicals. But Gil Moss was an absolute fanboy when it came to water sports. He loved anything to do with the water. Their first interaction was when Gil tried to intimidate Ron out of his swim period tickets. When Ron found that Gil had no interest in "wimpy" arts and crafts, he managed to get all of Gil's campfire cooking, art, and crafts tickets, more than the number of swimming, water safety and canoeing tickets that he gave to Gil. Ron became the unofficial camp trader of activity tickets, despite getting mugged several times in the first few days of camp. Any extra water activity tickets he came across he gave to Gil. By coincidence, Ron had fewer encounters with bullies after that.

The night of the fourth day, he stumbled into his dark cabin carrying a pot of extra chili and some fries left over from his Campfire Cooking Class. After "roommate issues" in his previous four-person cabin, the counselors put him in this small cabin that originally held one camper and the mascot. Now with the mascot gone "under mysterious circumstances," it was a single person cabin. It was also the subject of campfire stories about how the mascot came back from the dead as a zombie monkey out for revenge against its last roommate for letting it die.

Turning on a light, he started to rummage through his bag looking for his bug repellent to slather all over himself in a vain attempt to keep his flesh unbitten and his blood unsucked until morning. Ron screamed in panic when he felt soft fur brush against his ankle. Gathering his courage, he looked down expecting to see the slavering jaws of the Camp Wannaweep zombie monkey.

Instead of the snarling, crazed rabid monkey he feared, he saw a pair of soft, cute, fuzzy cat-sized animals with pointed faces and hairless tails. They were sniffing and pawing at his pot of leftovers. Getting out another pan with still shaking hands, he divided his "snack for later" into the two pans and put them on the floor. The pair of animals were skittish in the light, but the offered food was irresistible. Happily chomping away at the chili the two furry creatures would stop every minute or so to groom their fur. Looking closer, Ron discovered that the two animals were bug magnets, especially ticks and other bloodsuckers. They didn't seem to be bothered by the pests but acted like they were tasty treats, almost like they were grooming chocolate chips from their fur instead of ticks. Before too long, his cabin was bug-free and chili free. Not even a single French fry remained. With one last hopeful sniff of the area, the fuzzy cuties wandered off, satisfied. Ron finally thought that maybe camp would be survivable.

**Finite Middletons (Possible house, Summer before Fifth Grade)**

"Are you sure these boys are human, Hiero?" Subira nearly had Tim cornered when she deliberately slowed her attempt at grabbing him just enough for the almost five-year-old to dodge her grasping hand and run by, shrieking in laughter.

"They might be cats with the way they get the running around crazies, but I changed many, many diapers," he replied.

"Perhaps you should have tried a litter box?" Wendy suggested from her seat on the couch as Tim dodged Hiero and jumped in her lap laughing and declaring himself 'safe.'

Yoriko fell over in a roll quite theatrically holding Jim in her arms when the small, nearly five-year-old cannonball ran into her at full speed. Racing through the house was a characteristic of both boys, but Jim preferred to stop by crashing into a Nanny whenever possible.

Their excess energy burned off, the twins dragged out their drawing tablets and were soon working on robot and rocket designs with their creations displayed on the big screen TV. Their drawings were detailed, robots had hydraulic 'muscles,' and their rockets had pumps feeding liquid fuel to the thrusters.

Subira had personally ensured that all of the data files stored in Erica the synthodrone was stored safely away - duplicate copies in multiple safe places. That included all of Dr. Possible's and all of Dr. Vivian Porter's Space Center computer files and almost all of the twin's data from their "syntho-maid" work. The Ninjas were all sworn to keep it safe and undisturbed until the year of the Junior Prom. If James had not recreated his wormhole technology by then, they would give him the data to jump-start his research. The data was, after all, taken from nearly ten years in the future.

As Subira watched five-year-old Jim access NASA engineering to get details for his rocket design, she became convinced that they must never put those backups on the Internet.

Looking at Hiero who was bringing in tea and Yoriko who was bringing in queso cheese and chips (influenced by the boy, obviously) she asked,

"Hiero, have you heard from Nana about how they are doing in China?"

"Just short a note sent via diplomatic channels, they are fine, Kimberly is doing well in her classes and doesn't seem homesick at all," he replied.

"Yoriko, what about Ronald?"

"He called several times a day for the first four days and talked to his mom, saying that he was miserable and begged to come home. As we agreed, I have been out of touch. On the fifth day, he sent her a text messaged that he was doing OK and could do the entire fourteen days of the camp."

"You look distressed, Yoriko?" Subira asked.

"To be honest, when I heard that groups of boys larger than him were bullying him, I was ready to ride out to the camp and send people to the emergency room. When Jeanie showed up at the house after her expo was finished on the sixth day of his camp and told me, I was a little angry, but she claimed that Ronald was most likely exaggerating and just wanted to be at home with video games." Yoriko dipped a chip in the cheese and neatly took a bite.

Wendy pointed out, "We all agreed that Ronald needs his old experiences, good and bad, to be what he needs to become. At the very least, bullies aside, we have eliminated two of the hazards of the camp. A call to the ASPCA resulted in investigators going out to check, and they moved the poor, abused monkey to a rescue center, so they have no monkey mascot at all. We also put in an anonymous tip to the EPA, and they cleaned out a toxic waste dump this spring that was polluting the lake. That might not help Ronald directly, but the boy that mutated and came back to attack Ronald and the cheer squad should not suffer mutation in this timeline."

Yoriko replied, "That is true. By reducing the trauma, we may have spoiled the young man. I request permission to start increased training for Ronald now instead of waiting. I believe that it is in Team Possible's best interest to have him become a more capable member." Switching to Japanese, she continued, _[__**"I know that there is some concern that making him too capable too fast will prevent Kimberly from falling in love with him because of jealousy or because she feels that she is not the one who makes the difference. If that is true, then I believe that these two need to be split up now so they can recover and come back together as best friends when the critical time arrives. To not train him in the use of the MMP is absolute insanity. He must have knowledge that will allow him to use only the necessary amount of force should the use of force be unavoidable."]**_

Subira continued in English, changing the subject as they all knew Yoriko's desires concerning Ronald's MMP training. In general, they all agreed and were kind of tired of hearing her talk about it. "So, I propose that you pick up Ronald a little early. Kimberly won't be back for another week. Do you have any plans?"

Ron's Nanny replied, "I will pick up Ronald early on the last day. I will give him a couple of days to recover; then we will do some simple camping and rock climbing. Nothing too strenuous, but he will learn basic rope techniques at least."

"Can we go rock climbing?!" asked Jim.

"We'll listen and not run off," added Tim.

"or nothing!" finished Jim.

**Finite Middletons (Camp Wannaweep, Summer before Fifth Grade)**

"Excuse me," Yoriko asked the heavily tanned boy, "have you seen Ronald Stoppable?"

"Uh, yeah, I saw him a minute ago," he looked around, "I think the Squeeb is over there talking to those girls," he pointed to a pavilion where several girls in striped shirts were standing in front of a table.

"Is your name Gil Moss?" she had read Ron's notes that he sent home and had a hunch.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"You are tanned, and your arm and shoulder muscles are those of someone who is a powerful swimmer and canoeist," she laid it on a bit thick. "I have heard that you stopped some bullies from picking on Ronald."

"Well, it's not like we're best buds or anything, he's kept me in water activity tickets. Had to protect my supplier, you know," the young man preened a little with pride.

"Thank you, nonetheless." She gave him a little bow and walked over to the pavilion.

Ron sat at a picnic table, where three girls in black and white striped shirts, white gloves and white face paint performed for him. She watched them go through individual and group routines where they were performing actions like swimming, doing some sort of weaving and even building a campfire and cooking. Ron watched intently and at the end of a little performance would lay down a colored slip of paper on the table for each performer. The performer would usually clap their hands silently and grab the activity ticket. Twice a girl looked at it, burst into theatrical tears, repeated the performance and then Ron would smack his head with one hand, apologize and lay down a different slip of paper. Soon all the girls were satisfied with their tickets, blew Ron air kisses and bounced away, happy.

"Yoriko!" Ron finally noticed her presence, "You're early! I can be ready to leave in fifteen minutes!"

"Who were the young ladies, Ron-kun?"

"I don't know; they didn't say…"

**Finite Middletons (China, Summer before Fifth Grade)**

'It's almost over.' thought Kim, 'it's been fun, but I'm ready to go home.' She was walking along the usual path for the morning run, but it was a leisurely pace with Ping beside her. They had most of the day "off," carried snacks with them, and were instructed to be back in time for the evening meal.

"Yanwoo," asked Ping, "When do you start back for home?"

"The day after tomorrow, it's a half day walk to the train station and then another day and a half to the airport. Then the plane takes, well, I get confused with all the time zone changes, but at least another day to get back home. I'm ready to go; I miss my family and Ronnie."

"Ronnie is your friend, but not your boyfriend?" Ping asked as they started up the winding path that would lead up to the hot springs.

"Yeah, don't see a point in a boyfriend. Ronnie and I do all kinds of stuff together, and I don't have to worry about getting dressed up before seeing him and kissing and all that crap."

"I wish I had a friend like that."

"Maybe you could come and visit. Your English is excellent, maybe you could some study in Middleton for a semester or two and hang out with us. Ronnie is a fun guy to hang out with; you'd like him."

Approaching the spot on the map where they would turn left and hit the hot springs, they heard people arguing. Both girls hurried to find a young man bickering with an elderly woman. Or that is what Kim thought at first. Kim was seconds away from starting a beat down on the young punk when Ping whispered in her ears, "You left knee is hurt, start limping now." Pulling Kim's arm around her shoulder to "help her walk," Ping started to speak in rapid Chinese. Kim had no clue to what they were saying, but the elderly woman rushed over and started feeling the joint and surrounding muscles of Kim's 'hurt' knee. Thinking fast, Kim played along, grimacing when she thought it was appropriate. The woman barked a command at the young man who hurried off.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them were soaking in the hot springs with the village healer, and thirty minutes after that, the healer's daughter had brought lunch. Between the healer's English and Ping acting as translator, it was a pleasant day. The lesson of the day for Kimberly was that sometimes a tense situation does not require a beatdown. That is, not all conflicts have villains.

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment, a sheer cliff wall on an unfinished section of the Temple)**

Hiero double-checked Tim's harness and safety rope. Wanda had put it on, but there was no such thing as too safe for one of his Bouyatachi. The very young rock climber started up the twenty-foot climb up to where Yoriko was belaying him. Once he got to the top, she would let the rope out slowly so he could "rappel" down the wall. Then they would repeat the process with Jim.

Glancing off to the side he saw Ronald helping Renzo and Ichiro put in anchors for handholds to make a more adult section.

"Wanda," asked Hiero quietly, "Did Yoriko tell you about the cute girls Ronald was dealing with when she went to pick him up?"

"No."

"Ronald was a dealer in Camp Activity Tickets, and three adorable Mime girls from Clown Camp were getting tickets from him. She said that they all left happy and blowing him kisses."

"I suppose our Ronald was oblivious to their cuteness?"

"Yes, he was. Yoriko asked him who they were and he replied, 'I don't know, they didn't say…'"

"Did she beat on him? I would have," Wanda remarked as she unhooked Tim then called, "Jim, you're up!"

Credits

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

This chapter triggered a lengthy discussion amongst myself, Sentinel103, CajunBear73, and daccu65 about the details of the Kim/Ron relationship, particularly the stupid ones. It will be a challenge to see if I can remove some of the sillier constraints and still have recognizable and entertaining characters.


	3. 5th Grade Missions

*** **_**Missions**_** ***

*** The Chocolate Cat ***

**Finite Middletons (Future site of Bueno Nacho, First week of Fifth Grade)**

"That's where they're going to build it KP, just one block off of the path home from High School. Is that cool or what?" Ronald Stoppable pointed as if he were a tour guide pointing out a holy shrine.

Kimberly Ann Possible read the sign, "Bueno Nacho. Are they better than the Cow and Chow?"

"Way better. I got to eat at one in Go City."

"When were you in Go City? Where was I?"

"It was last summer; you were in China with Nana. I went with Yoriko getting some papers signed for Wendy-sensei."

"Well, OK." Their parents had decided that the pair needed an occasional break from each other, that it wasn't healthy for them to be attached at the hip all the time. The last summer was a disaster; they had been completely cut off from each other for much of the break. Kim had gone on a trip for one whole month to China with Nana while Ron spent two weeks at a traditional summer camp at a place called Wannaweep.

Ron's longing gaze of the future site of Tex-Mex cheesy goodness was interrupted by a woman's cry of "Tabby!." the squeal of tires, and the crunch of metal. Looking behind them they saw a distraught woman holding a pet carrier with an open door. A large pickup truck had swerved to miss the cat racing across the street and had plowed into the side of a parked tanker truck loaded with liquid chocolate. The pair could see the terrified cat cowering under the tanker truck. A welded seam split open and a sheet of shiny brown liquid cascaded down onto the street.

"Come on, we've got to save that cat!" the redhead grabbed her best friend's hand and after checking for traffic, pulled him across the street. They could see the cat was now trying to run away, but unable to get traction on the hot, sticky liquid running slowly into the storm drain.

Kim got down on all fours, "Give me your belt!" Taking his belt, she looped it around one of her ankles and handed the end to him, "You may have to pull me out!"

She crawled under the truck and finally got down on her stomach to slide along the asphalt trying to reach the feline that was rapidly becoming covered with chocolate.

Ron was worried, his belt wasn't that long, and he had to follow her to be able to hang onto it. He slid a leg between a dual set of tires as an anchor and stretched as far as he could while hanging on to his belt for dear life. The chocolate was getting deeper, and he had to hold his head up to keep his face out of the brown goo.

Just when he was about to let go with his legs to give his hero some more slack, he heard the cat's anguished yowl of protest and Kimberly yelled, "Got it! Pull me out!"

The boy pulled with all his might, terrified that he would lose his grip on his belt and he would be left helplessly watching his best friend get swept very slowly down the storm drain by the greasy river of Doom. Instead, she slowly began to slide toward him; the chocolate was viscous and thick, but slippery. A larger boy appeared beside him and was able to grab a chocolate covered ankle. Soon, the two boys had Kimberly, clutching a brown goopy mess of a cat in easy reach and bystanders helped all three get up on the sidewalk.

"Thanks, Mike," Ron said, "That was a big help." Mike nodded; he was a large, dark-haired boy of few words. Cold water sprayed over all of them, looking up to see another classmate with a garden hose, he complained, "Justine! What are you doing!"

"Got to cool you off, strip down to your underwear, the chocolate is still hot and is slowly burning you," their blonde classmate commanded in her usual authoritative, matter-of-fact tone.

Kimberly slogged over with the cat, "Do the cat first, it's been chocolate covered the longest."

As they were being cooled down, a fire department rescue team arrived to start the cleanup and check the victims out. Fortunately, the chocolate on the ground was measured to be only a hundred and seventeen degrees Fahrenheit, and with an exposure time of under ten minutes, they should have at most, a few patchy first-degree burns. If the chocolate had been hotter or they had been in contact with it longer, they would have been in danger of second-degree burns or worse. The fire department rescue team praised Big Mike and Justine for their speed in getting everyone out of the hot chocolate and cooled off. Mrs. Murphy thanked Kim and Ron for saving Tabby, who was secured back in his carrier.

Mike's dad got space blankets from the rescue team to put over his car seats and loaded up the chocolate covered heroes. He delivered Ron and Kim to an astonished Jeanie Stoppable.

**Finite Middletons (White Mask Conference, Convention Center)**

James stared at the electronic door lock in front of him looking for the weakness that would give him access. The White Mask Conference was a system security/hackers conference that he attended as part of his continuing education requirement at work. His strategy of continuing education in areas besides his Aerospace chemistry and material science degrees had allowed him to successfully argue that he was worth more to the Space Center as a Senior Engineer than as a mid-level manager.

The talks were interesting, and the hacking classes were fascinating. The first class James had taken years ago had a lock-picking lab that was claimed to "put the system hacker in the correct frame of mind." Not to mention that he got to take home the training locks used in the lab to show his Kimmie-cub and Ronald. Yoriko usually joined him for the conference. The pair rocked in stereo when they were partners in a hacking class lab, always the first pair to finish the assignments. This time, unfortunately, the young woman was attending a session on social engineering instead of being his lab partner.

The conference attendees played a game called "Spot the Fed." Many of the younger attendees assumed that members of various government intelligence organizations were in attendance to identify hackers for nefarious reasons. James and Yoriko played the game to the hilt, showing up dressed in black suits, white shirts, thin black ties, and dark Ray-Ban sunglasses. Yoriko added black four-inch spike heels to her costume to get a femme fatale vibe. The combination of her fake Russian accent and her partner's fake Scottish accent had many attendees arguing whether the pair was from KGB/SVR or MI6. The other people from the Space Center that knew James stirred the pot by whispering 'Men In Black.'

The lock for today's hacking class was an electronic combination lock with a possible console connector accessible by prying the cover off. James connected a cable from his laptop to the suspected console interface and was delighted to see a login prompt on the console program. He was guessing the manufacturer's default password when Yoriko came into the classroom.

"Sensei," she bent over and whispered to him, "I received a call from Mrs. Stoppable suggesting that we come home to check on Ronald and Kimberly. They are not seriously hurt, but when I asked for details, she replied that we would need to see it to believe it. If we leave right now, we will not get tied up in rush hour traffic."

James nodded, packed up his equipment and waving to the hacking class's lab assistant, headed for the door. The lab assistant gave a little salute as the pair left. The reason that caused 'Agent' James to hurry out of a $3,000 non-refundable class would be the source of speculation and rumor the rest of the day.

James and Yoriko pulled up in the Stoppables driveway and walked into the kitchen via the garage. Both cars were in the garage, so Gene and Jeanie were probably both home. Walking into the kitchen, they noticed brown footprints going from the back door to the basement stairs.

"Tadaima!" called out Yoriko.

"Okaerinasai," replied Jeanie from down in the basement, "Yoriko, we're in the bath area!" After slipping off their dress shoes, then taking off their suit jackets and draping them across kitchen chairs, they headed down the stairs. Soon they were in the bath area that had a heavy smell of chocolate?

Both families had installed multiple showers plus three large soaking tubs in their basements. Very Japanese in style with the addition of special water filters designed for deep space travel that reduced water usage to nearly nothing. Their live-in Ninjas had asked for them, and the parents weren't too hard to convince. Their argument that having the kids used to bathing around their parents would make it easier to spot injuries seemed silly at the time but now made more sense.

The water filters were going to need heavy duty maintenance to flush out the chocolate. The smaller soaking tub was cold water, useful for when someone got overheated in one of the large hot ones. Right now, both junior heroes were immersed in the cold tub to help their mild burns. Mr. Stoppable filled it to the brim so that Kimberly could float on her back with her neck resting on the edge. Having her hair drape over the side allowed Jeanie to take a handheld sprayer and work on getting the chocolate out of her long red hair. There was a brown puddle on the floor with lumps of chocolate where Jeanie had managed to break chunks loose. Gene had another hand sprayer and was gently spraying cold water on the parts of the children that were above the water.

"Kimmie-cub, what did you two get into?" James was trying to think of what could have possibly happened.

"Hi, Daddy! We rescued a kitty! I pulled on the kitty and Ronnie pulled on me, and we got out from under the truck, and Justine sprayed us with a garden hose because we were all covered in melted chocolate!

**Finite Middletons (Possible Home, Bedtime)**

Kimberly heard a soft knock on her door, and her Mom peeked in.

"Hi honey, I had a surgery run late, but wanted to say 'Goodnight.'"

Walking over to the small heroine, she bent over for a hug and kiss.

"Mmm," Anne murmured, "you smell like chocolate. Your hair is super soft."

Kimberly said, "I got covered in melted chocolate. We rescued a kitty today!"

"Really? I'm proud of you honey. Your Dad said that Ronnie helped?"

"I grabbed the kitty, then Ronnie pulled us out of the chocolate. She looked a little sad, "But he got burned…"

"What about you? Daddy said the melted chocolate scalded you."

"It doesn't hurt. We soaked in the cold tub to suck out the heat and Daddy put ointment on it." The young hero tossed back the sheet, peeled off her nightshirt and showed her mom her marks.

Anne turned on the bedside lamp to see better. Kimmy's skin had fairly large faint pink blotches indicative of a first-degree burn, but her skin itself seemed perfectly solid and intact. It might not even peel when it healed.

"Let me put some more aloe vera on it and then you should try to get some sleep, OK?"

She slathered up her daughter in the ointment and noticed in the better light that the chocolate had turned her red hair auburn.

Turning out the light, she murmured, "Good night my little hero…"

As she shut the door, she heard Kimmy's sleepy reply, "Not a hero, Mom, didn't fight any bad guys…"

*** The Scared Shepherd***

**Finite Middletons (Possible Home; The next week)**

Yoriko sat on the porch swing watching the trickle of kids get off the bus and start down the sidewalk. It had been an enjoyable afternoon spent with Hiero who had just left to pick up the boys from afternoon kindergarten. Soon she saw a redhead with her best friend in tow running up the sidewalk. Idly, the Ninja Nanny wondered how much energy Ronald saved by letting Kimberly pull him around. That girl had no problem at all with grabbing him and moving him around whenever and wherever she saw fit.

"Yoriko!" she called out, "we had a rescue today! Tell her, Ronnie!"

"Me?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah you," she retorted, "fair is fair. I grabbed the cat last week. You grabbed the dog today."

"Ronald, what happened?" Yoriko and Hiero had been too preoccupied with each other all afternoon to listen to police scanners. Surely if something big had happened, Renzo or one of the other Team Orange members would have heard and called them.

"KP and I were in one of the temporary classrooms, and we heard this growling and snarling from under the floor. It seemed like something was scared or hurt. So we went outside to check out the sitch."

"What did your teacher say?"

"She told the class to stay in their seats, and she picked up the phone to call the office."

"You disobeyed her?" Yoriko had a strong sense of obeying authority.

"No, she didn't mean us; she meant the others. You know, the civilians," the young blond boy rolled his eyes, "we went out and looked under the classroom. It was a police dog, it didn't look hurt, I mean we couldn't see any blood, and its legs all looked straight, but it was scared to death like some monster was after it. It was my turn, so I crawled under the classroom to try to help it."

"Your turn?"

"We rescued a cat from getting washed down a storm drain, remember? I held KP's ankle while she reached in and grabbed it."

"Ah, yes, the chocolate rescue. Weren't you scared to crawl under the building?"

"I didn't see any bugs or spiderwebs, so I figured it was OK. I crawled under the building, and when my eyes got used to the dark, I saw it was Sally."

"Sally?"

"She's officer Morrow's dog. Officer Morrow will sometimes let me pet her dog when they are on lunch break. You're not allowed to touch them when they are on duty, you know."

"What happened Ronald?" Yoriko saw his eyes stare straight ahead, but she wasn't sure how much of their present surroundings he saw.

_"She was scared, really scared half to death…"_

_Ron slowly squirmed across the rough gravel while softly talking to the terrified animal, "Easy girl, easy Sally, me and KP are here. We won't let anyone hurt you." Finally close enough to stretch out and touch it, he slowly reached out his hand. Slowly, slowly, still making soothing sounds he reached out to pet her when the German Shepard gave a strange growling yelp and snapped at his arm grabbing him by the wrist._

_The blond boy managed not to scream but felt the dog's teeth press into his skin when he reflexively tried to jerk his hand away. He waited without moving a muscle, still making soothing sounds. About the time his heart started to slow down, the dog made a whining noise, released him and licked his hand._

_Using both hands, he carefully touched the dog, scratching its chest and behind its ears and finally, he reached around to grab its harness. The dog tried to crawl closer to him, whining in relief._

_"KP," he called out, "pull me out, I'm holding on to Sally's harness."_

_Officer Sharon Morrow ran around the corner. She had been delayed in looking for Sally because she had to wait for backup to arrive and take her suspects into custody. The second of two suspects had been wrestled to the ground by Sally while her officer handcuffed the first one. The male that Sally was holding onto sprayed something into the dog's face, causing it to freak out and run away. He had tried to run away himself, but the officer tackled him, disarmed and cuffed him._

_Just as she cleared the corner of the 'temporary' classroom, she saw a red-haired girl pulling a boy by his legs out from under the building. The boy was holding on to Sally's harness and just as they cleared the building, the girl fell backward on her butt holding a pair of pants in her hand. The boy, now only wearing boxers, pulled her dog into his arms, hugging it as the dog squirmed around, licking his face._

"Ron-chan, did anyone tell you what the villain sprayed on the dog's face?" She looked carefully at his face - was it a contact poison and did he get any of it on him?

"Officer Morrow just reported that a villain sprayed something on the dog's face and it ran away scared. Nobody told us what it was."

"Is Sally OK? Did they take her to a doctor?"

"The dog seems to be fine. Officer Morrow washed her face with milk and will watch her closely for a few days," the blonde finished his report.

'Washed its face with milk,' Yoriko on a hunch told her charge, "Pardon me, Ronald, I need to check something." Gently taking his face in her hands, she gave his cheek a tiny lick. She detected a subtle fruity taste shortly followed by a burn. Ghost chili pepper extract she guessed.

"Let me taste!" Kimberly seized her partner's face and tasted his other cheek with what any onlooker would have called a big, wet, sloppy kiss.

"What do I taste like?"

"Stick out your tongue, I'll let you taste it," the redhead commanded.

Yoriko was a trained Ninja, supposedly highly resistant to surprises. She was momentarily stunned when a mane of red hair blocked her view of Ronald's face as its owner rubbed her lips on the surprised young man's tongue. At least that was her guess; she was secretly hoping that a surveillance camera had picked that up. She wanted to see the look on Ronald's face. Maybe even Kimberly's, the girl's cheeks were a little red right now, had the young hero realized the inappropriateness of her actions? Or was the burn from the pepper extract setting in?

"OK, both of you inside. Keep your hands away from your eyes, that pepper extract will make them burn if you get it in your eyes."

Once inside, Yoriko led them down into the basement, "Ron-kun, I am concerned that the pepper extract that they sprayed on Sally got on you - scrub down, start with washing your hands. Strip and start washing and I will put your clothes in the washer right now."

While Ron started disrobing, she took Kimberly to the other end of the bath area. She repeated her instructions, adding, "I don't think that Sally rubbed on you, but let's be safe."

Returning to the other side where a blond seated on a little stool was now washing his hair, she grabbed his clothes, went back to pick up the redhead's clothes and carried everything upstairs to throw the clothes in the washing machine. While still in the laundry room, Anne showed up,

"Yoriko, Wendy said that the kids might be contaminated with something?" she added, "I was already on my way home when she called."

'Ah, someone **was** watching the surveillance camera on the porch,' Yoriko thought, "Yes, Sensei, they are downstairs in the bath area washing now. I am on my way back to see if I need to scrub places they missed." The two women headed down the steps with Yoriko explaining what she knew about their "rescue mission." Both women went down the steps silently, the Ninja because she was a Ninja and the Mom because Hiero had pointed out that sometimes the best way to see what her children were really up to, required her to appear without warning as if by magic and that required her to move silently.

The showers were off and looking at the hot water soaking tub on this end of the basement; she saw her daughter slip over the side and sit back to back with Ronald who was already there and pointedly not looking at his best friend bathing buddy.

"Wasn't that long ago that they'd not be so careful around each other, I guess ten-years-old is about the age for a little body modesty to kick in," she murmured to the Nanny.

"I think they got a little shock today, Sensei, have Wendy-sama play the porch surveillance recording. I think they found out that they are a boy and a girl," seeing the sideways glance the Mom was giving her, hastened to add, "Nothing too drastic. Just a surprise open mouth kiss." She giggled, "With tongue."

Anne was intrigued. "What, they were both yawning and ran into each other?"

"No, seriously though, it was due to a mistake on my part. Ronald smelled like the contamination was hot pepper based, so I took a tiny taste of his cheek and detected an extract of Ghost hot peppers. Kimberly repeated my actions, a little more exuberantly. Being the kind soul that she is, when Ron wanted to know what the taste was, she gave him her lips to taste."

"Without asking first?"

"Yes Sensei, I will talk to Hiero, and we will remind them of the necessity of getting consent. Even with best friends."

"Hey kids," the Mom called out, "I heard you rescued a police dog today,"  
walking over to the side of their hot soaking tub, she commanded, "Ronald, come over here, I want to look at you and see how your burns are healing. You know kids, if you think someone is contaminated with something, **tasting them is not a good idea**."

"Yes, Mom."

"Yes, Mrs. Dr. P," Ronald replied as he crouched, staying low in the water and waded to the side nearest Anne.

"Ronald, stand up honey, I want to make sure your burns are healing properly. Have you been using aloe vera at night?"

"Yes Ma'am, mom or dad's been helping me with some of the places I can't reach."

She saw a few remaining pinkish patches on his body from the scalding he got from the 'chocolate cat' mission. The burns were healing nicely with minimal peeling of his skin. Then she noticed the abrasions and scratches all down his front.

"Ronald?" Anne asked, "What happened to your stomach? Did you fall?"

"That was from the gravel when KP pulled me out from under the building." He replied. "She didn't hurt me on purpose, we had to get Sally out, I pulled on Sally's harness, and KP pulled on me."

"I will make sure the scratches are clean and will put ointment on them before bedtime, Sensei."

"That should be fine. Well, I'm going to go back upstairs,"  
Anne headed for the steps.

"Ronald, I will be back with spare clothes for you in a few minutes." Yoriko said, walking with Anne up the stairs to the kitchen, "Sensei, if I notice that Ronald is feeling poorly or acting strangely, I will call."

"OK, This is no worse than playground accidents, I suppose. Are you and Ronald staying for dinner?"

"No, thank you for asking, but Jeanie and Gene are home and want a family dinner tonight. Still, I think I will look into protective clothing. "

Anne gave a little laugh, "I don't think body armor would prevent bumps and scratches on these two. Being worried is just a part of the job."

Yoriko pulled some spare clothes off a shelf, then paused for a minute considering new mission clothes for Ronald. She decided to have some black mock turtle-neck long sleeve shirts made for him. One of Yamanouchi's uniform suppliers had a fabric made of wool that was specially treated to remove the microscopic barbed scales on the fibers that makes wool itchy. The finished material was comfortable against the skin, tough, abrasion-resistant and would char instead of melt when exposed to extreme heat. Not precisely body armor, but would certainly help when your best friend is dragging you across gravel.

**Finite Middletons (Stoppable Den, After "bedtime")**

Yoriko knelt by her small shrine in a corner of the den meditating. She had heard a small noise behind her about fifteen minutes ago as her charge crept in and quietly knelt on the carpet about four paces behind her.

"Can I be of assistance, Otouto?" she finally said without turning around. (Otouto is Japanese for "little brother.")

"Sensei, I don't understand girls. Can you help me?" Came the soft reply.

Yoriko laughed softly and turned around sitting with her legs folded under her, "I fear you have me confused with someone else if you are calling me 'Sensei' and believe that I know all the secrets of girls."

"But you're a girl!"

"Yes, I am a girl, a singular example of one person of the female variety. Perhaps instead of seeking the entire wisdom concerning girls, do you have a specific question? Maybe I can help with that."

"What did it mean when KP kissed me?"

* * *

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)


	4. The break up and first real mission

*** **_**Christmas Breakup**_** ***

**Finite Middletons (Kimmy's room, "bedtime," First week of Fifth Grade, the evening after "The Kiss")**

A ten-year-old Kim Possible brushed her hair getting ready for bed. Several times she had thought of telling her Mom she wanted to cut her hair shorter, brushing it was a pain, and then there was the whole business of having to wear a scarf to bed to prevent waking up with a tangled nest of hair. But Ronnie loved how flippy it was and, to be fair, so did she. Besides she had read that Vikings combed their hair every day. If it wasn't too girly for Vikings, it wasn't too girly for her to brush her hair every day.

"Kimmy?" her mom's head peeked up from the hatch in her floor, "Got a minute?" Kim's room had the unusual feature of a trapdoor/hatch in the center of her floor that led to its own set of stairs. It was only this year that she was allowed to use the door. Until then, she was could only use the standard door leading to the second-floor hallway. Even so, her Dad had installed motion/speed sensors that triggered a safety net if she approached the open doorway as a speed faster than absolutely safe.

"Sure Mom, what's the sitch?", she answered, putting a scarf on her head, corralling her mane for the night.

"That was certainly a big kiss you gave Ronald when you guys got to the house after school today."

"It wasn't a kiss!"

The Mom raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"It wasn't a kiss-kiss! Mom! I was trying to let Ronnie taste what was on his cheeks!"

"What did Ronnie think of it? The picture from the porch camera I saw showed a young man whose world was rocked."

The young redhead sighed as if all the weight of the world had just settled on her shoulders, "What do I do, Mom? I don't want a boyfriend! You have to dress up for boyfriends and be on your best behavior all the time and stuff like that!"

"Talk to him, honey. Tell him that. He's your best friend right? Doesn't he claim that his motto is 'never be normal'?" Anne continued after her daughter nodded, "Just whatever you do, don't say the words 'We need to talk, OK?"

**Finite Middletons (Stoppable Den, After "bedtime")**

"Can I be of assistance, Otouto?" Yoriko said without turning around. (Otouto is Japanese for "little brother.")

"Sensei, I don't understand girls. Can you help me?" Came the soft reply.

Yoriko laughed softly and turned around sitting with her legs folded under her, "I fear you have me confused with someone else if you are calling me 'Sensei' and believe that I know all the secrets of girls."

"But _you're a girl_!"

"Yes, I am a girl, a single example of one person of the female variety. Perhaps instead of seeking the entire wisdom concerning girls, do you have a specific question? Maybe I can help with that."

"What did it mean when KP kissed me?"

"I believe that it was an impulsive kiss and that she didn't have a lot of feelings tied to it." She had tried to figure out how to let Ronnie down easy, but she didn't have any experience in the workings of the romance of ten-year-olds. She hated to punt, but given Hirotaka's history with girls, she decided to have Ronnie go straight to the source instead.

"You should talk to Kimmy. You don't want to have a misunderstanding about something as important as a kiss, yes?"

"OK," The boy remained kneeling.

"Otouto, what did you hope that it meant?" the nanny cut to the chase, "Do you want her to be your girlfriend?"

"I hadn't thought of it before the kiss, but then I thought KP being my girlfriend would be nice."

"You and Kimmy do everything together now. What would be different if she _was_ your girlfriend?"

"I don't know, holding hands and kissing? Maybe hugging?" the blonde thought for a moment, "I guess I figured that a girlfriend is more permanent than a best friend?"

Yoriko saw heartbreak in her charge's future but simply said, "Talk to her. Make sure you listen to her. There are many kinds of relationships, and you must work to find one that makes you both happy."

**Finite Middletons (Stoppable Den, After school the next day)**

"What part of your health homework are you working on, Ronnie?" Kimberly and her current best friend were curled up on opposite ends of the massively overstuffed couch with notebooks and pencils.

"I'm making the chart showing which foods give you which of the basic nutrients. How about you?"

His current best friend rolled her eyes, "I'm rewriting my answer to the bullying question on last week's test."'

"Yeah, I can see why Mr. Stevens might not have liked your answer to _' Describe one appropriate response to bullying._' I liked your answer: 'Respectfully ask them to be nice and if they refuse, beat the snot out of them.'"

"That's not what I wrote!" green eyes flashed with indignation.

"Hey, I parrot-phrased your answer. But that was what you meant." The blond ducked, too slow to dodge a pillow tossed at his head.

"Ronnie, we need to talk," looking up, she saw Ronnie sitting frozen with fear like a deer in the headlights. 'Darn it! That was precisely what her mother had told her not to say. She scooted over to him, wincing a little when he tried to scoot away, but he was already at the end of the couch.

"Ronnie, what's the sitch? I'm not mad or anything. Really, I just want to talk."

"OK, what do you want to talk about?"

"The kiss, I didn't mean anything about it. Are we still best friends?"

"Sure KP, we'll be best friends forever," she still thought that he seemed to be disappointed somehow.

"What did you think the kiss meant?"

"I thought that maybe you wanted to be my girlfriend."

The redhead's eyes narrowed, "What do you expect a girlfriend to do? Be dressed up all the time? Wear makeup?"

"No, KP, don't be silly, I don't really know what boyfriends and girlfriends do, but I figure it's stuff like sitting close together, holding hands and some kissing. We could figure it out as we go along."

"And if one of us doesn't like something?"

"Then we tell the other one, and we don't do that. Just like normal friends do."

"Maybe we could give it a try." Kimberly grabbed Ronald's face, closed her eyes, and kissed him. Feeling her best friend, possibly her boyfriend now, stiffen in surprise, she released him, saying, "Sorry?!"

"Nothing to be sorry about, KP, I wasn't ready. Can we try that again?"

And they did — several times.

**Finite Middletons (Possible Home, Fifth Grade Christmas Break)**

Anne Possible was a senior neurosurgeon, not a relationship expert, but still expected this to happen. She felt sad nonetheless because Kimmie and Ronnie made the most adorable girlfriend/boyfriend pair that she had ever seen.

She would love to have been a fly on the wall when the two broke up, both kids moped around for nearly a week before becoming attached-at-the-hip best friends again. The pair acted mostly the same after their 'breakup,' except they no longer sat touching each other, although they still sat much closer to each other than normal kids would. Ronald now rarely grabbed Kimberly outside of a training mat, and Anne no longer caught the pair kissing when they thought no one was looking.

The most significant change was that while the two were still pretty much inseparable, they had started running in a small pack that called themselves the "Blue Pimpernel Society," originally made up of students suffering through stuffy English reading assignments. The original membership included Justine Flanders and 'Big' Mike Little. Anne noticed the way that those two interacted and was willing to bet that they were a future couple in the making.

Right now, they had cleared the snow off the training pads in the back yard, and Hiero was leading the four in Kung Fu exercises. At least Ronald and Justine were doing practice katas. Or they were. Right now, Kimberly would run at Mike who would boost her up in the air where she would do a tumble or flip before coming back to earth in a pile of "crash cubes"; large foam cubes designed for stunt men doing smaller falls. Ronald was standing beside the pile watching to make sure his best friend hit the foam blocks.

"Very impressive," Yoriko commented, having slipped into the kitchen unnoticed, "I believe with a little practice, Kimberly could land on the second-floor roof."

Kim high-fived her large partner, then Justine walked up, wanting a turn. Anne noticed a small glare from Ron at the slap.

'Looks like someone isn't happy about Mike muscling in on his best friend,' the amused mother thought.

"I'd better go and make sure Ronald can spot Justine, she might not jump straight," the ninja said as she stepped toward the back door.

Justine took off at a run, placing a foot in Mike's hands and vaulting up in the air as the very large and very strong buy provided a considerable boost. Maybe too much boost as Justine launched at an angle. After a very smooth rotation, she stretched out to comfortably land on the foam except that she was going to miss the cushioning with part of her body. Ron rushed in, catching her in a bridal carry and letting the impact carry them both into the foam in a tangle of limbs.

Again, Anne was amused to see that Mike might have shot Ronald a glare as he helped Justine to her feet. The 'Blue Pimpernels' was looking like quite a source of entertainment.

*** **_**Lucius Fox**_** ***

**Finite Middletons (Gotham City, Wayne Enterprises)**

Lucius Fox, research head of the Applied Sciences division of Wayne Enterprises Research picked up the phone,

"Fox here."

"Hello, Mr. Wayne, what can I do for you?"

"…"

"Special projects? Well, this is the place where non-profitable projects and prototypes are sent to die. What do you have in mind?"

*** **_**Water Rescue**_** ***

**Finite Middletons (7th Grade (second year of Middle School); A dark and stormy night)**

"Well, kids, I guess we'll have to turn around and find another road, this one's flooded out." Gene Stoppable had taken a pack of kids out for pizza and a movie because Jeanie was working late, Ann and James had made a warm fire in the fireplace, perfect for snuggling in front of, BUT, they wanted a 'kid-free zone.' It was Saturday, and both Hiero and Yoriko had the weekend off. Gene decided it was time to step up and be a hero, so he loaded up the van and was off to the Mall for pizza and a movie. Plus a stop for video games. The "Blue Pimpernels" were all hanging out, so Mike and Justine came along.

It had been raining all day, and it was starting to flood in places. Gene knew that statistically speaking, even a few inches of water running across the road could be deadly and was finding it hard to find a path without water across the asphalt. Deciding to circle the long way home, they were driving over an overpass when they saw a helicopter shining a light on the swollen creek.

"Stop the van!" Kimberly cried out popping her seat belt loose and scrambling in the back digging in her mission pack.

"What?" Gene was bewildered, but pulled over to the side and parked.

The rain had lightened up enough for them to see a highway patrol officer hanging from a line trying to get a sling wrapped around a man whose car had washed off the road into the creek. Sliding down the side of the creek bed was a massive commercial dumpster.

Thrusting gloves and a coil of rope into Ronald's hands, she said, "Let's get dangerous!"

"What!? Dangerous!?" the blond squeaked.

"Just a figure of speech, Ronnie," and the redhead was out the door, running across the road and standing at the railing on the other side, watching the rescue attempt.

"How can I help?" asked Mike. Ronald, not exactly sure what his hero needed, decided to plan for the worst. Handing gloves and one end of his rope to Mike, he said, "Come out and anchor me."

Mike hopped out of the van, threw two loops of the rope around a post, and got ready to pay out slack. Ron, after tying his end of the line to his waist with a double bowline, carefully picked his way down the concrete covered side of the creek. From his vantage point, he could see under the bridge and watched the motorist being pulled up to the helicopter. Wannaweep was a nightmare, but it taught him knots, and he was sure that Kim wouldn't have to rescue him tonight. Not this time.

"Ronald, what's happening?!" Gene called from the guardrail. "What can I do to help?!"

"Keep Jim and Tim out of the rain. Dad. It's probably just a false alarm."

Looking under the bridge, Ron saw that sometimes bad things happen, no matter how hard a young man is praying. The dumpster, swept down the swollen creek hit the car causing the officer to lose his balance and fall into the water. Horrified, he saw the officer's harness pop loose and dangle limply on the cable from the helicopter.

"Ron!" he heard Kimberly scream, and he screamed in reply, "Ready!"

He saw the dark shape of the patrolman in the water rapidly approaching, and then a smaller dark form dropped into the water next to him.

Ron ran into the water to try to intercept the pair being swept under the bridge when Kimberly managed to get a shot lined up with her grapple gun and fired; the hook flew straight and true, wrapping itself securely around the guard rail posts. He was able to get to a spot where the grapple line plus the current brought both the police officer and Kimberly directly to him.

The creek bottom was smooth concrete here; the water was running so fast that if Ronald had fallen without having his rope to anchor him, the knee-deep torrent of rushing water would have prevented him from standing back up. Anchored by Mike keeping tension on his line, he was able to help the officer to his feet. The officer reached down with one hand and in one smooth motion grabbed Kimberly's jacket and pulled her sputtering to her feet.

The darkness of the night was obliterated by a spotlight from the rescue chopper.

"What the heck is wrong with you two?!" the police officer was furious, "You could have been both killed! What did you think you were doing?!"

"Officer… Jackson," Kimberly brushed the wet hair away from her eyes and read his name tag, "It was no big, if my grapple gun had missed, then Ronnie would have gotten us out by himself. Either one of us was enough to help you out. Together, we were almost a sure bet."

Jackson raised one arm over his head and waved to indicate that he was OK. The chopper swiveled and took off leaving the wet group in darkness with the steady rain the only sound.

"Officer," Gene Stoppable ran up and held out his cellphone, "do you need to borrow a cellphone to talk to your people and tell them what happened? My van is right here. We can take you anywhere you need to go if you can't get back up in the chopper…"

"Mr..." Officer Jackson prompted.

"Stoppable," Gene told him, offering a hand. "Gene Stoppable."

"Mr. Stoppable," the policeman told him. "Your kids aren't normal, but right now, I'm thankful for that."

"They're not all mine, but yeah, they are really something," he replied.

**Finite Middletons (Monday morning, Ronald is updating Yoriko on the events of the weekend at breakfast)**

Yoriko looked carefully at her charge seeing a young man well into puberty. 'Ronald has become a young man, that slipped up on me. I think I see increased muscle mass, but he can do better.' Refilling glasses with milk or orange juice on the table, she said,

"Ronald, you performed well, but you must get stronger. From now on you will exercise with me in the morning focusing on strength training."

"Will KP…"

"This is not about KP; this is about how your honor requires you to be able to back up Kimberly, your friend. You know some of the techniques, but you must get physically stronger and faster to be sure she is safe."

Ron frowned not knowing precisely what was going to be involved but figured it was going to be a lot of work.

"Yoriko," objected Gene, "Doesn't Ronald need to be finished growing before he starts strength training?"

"Gene-san," the Ninja replied, "that is a tale of old wives. True, until Ronald's levels of growth hormone and testosterone increase, he will not be able to, as you say, 'bulk up.' But I believe that he is sufficiently mature that he can get a start on building muscles and even if not, he can still increase endurance and some strength."

Looking at her watch, she said, "Ronald, finish up, it is almost time to leave for Kimberly's and school."

*** **_**The McHenry Laser Grid**_** ***

**Finite Middletons (7th Grade (second year of Middle School); Middleton Middle School)**

**Note to self - Rufus is here now.**

"Fine, you make the squad. Barely…" Bonnie grudgingly made that declaration.

"Yes!" Kimberly Possible raised her pompom in triumph.

"Kim! You got a major hit on the site!" her best friend, Ron Stoppable burst into the gym…

(Three hours later, a Mercedes sedan pulls up in front of the Possible house)

"Thanks for the ride, Mr. Paisley." Kimberly got out of the passenger side.

"Thank you for saving us from the laser grid, Kimberly."

"It was no big," replied the redhead, closing the car door and running up to the porch and into the house.

"Kimmy, who was that?" The family had just set down for pizza and Anne had gotten up when she saw the car pull up in front of the house.

"That was Mr. Paisley. We helped him disarm his laser beam alarm system. Then he gave me a tour of his cuddle-buddy collection! He even has a FlaminGoat!"

"That sounds very nice of him, honey, was Ronald with you?"

"Yeah, Mr. McHenry took Ronnie home, Ronnie wasn't interested in the cuddle-buddy collection, and Mr. McHenry wanted Ronnie to talk to his engineers, something about making an idiot proof remote control."

"Idiot proof or Ronald proof?" James teased,

"Daddy! I don't think the first two fires were Ronnie's fault!", Looking around, she asked, "Where's Hiero?"

"His and Yoriko's boss had a meeting that they had to attend. Ronald's parents picked up Jim and Tim from school.

**Finite Middletons (The Black Hole, a bar near the Space Center)**

"It appears Gray and Warbyrd truly destroyed the Time Monkey, or we would have seen Drakken and Shego appear," Nana said, sipping a Whiskey Sour.

"Not to mention that a future version of Kimberly and Ronald would have appeared to fight them," said Yoriko, nibbling on a potato skin dipped in salsa.

"Unless destroying the Time Monkey broke the time loop in which they destroyed it, so it exists somewhere intact…" Mistress Sensei said, putting her shot glass back on the table, she was doing Tequila shots with Subira and Ichiro, Renzo was the designated driver.

"Sensei, are you sure that we couldn't expand Team Possible to include one or two of us? Even part-time?" Hiero asked.

"Yes, no direct involvement." It wasn't the headmistress of the new Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment that answered, nor Wendy Wu, the alias used by the time traveling Ninja, but Wanda Wang that answered, the teammate that had schemed, bled, and fought beside him. She continued, "It's not the lack of action or being a caretaker that is the hard part, correct? It's waiting to see if they come home unhurt or even come home at all, right?"

"Yes!" Hiero's single word reply spoke volumes.

"Hiero," Nana said, "trust in their skills, their luck, and their training. Even the introductory scuba training they received when the pair spent the week with me last summer will eventually pay off. By the time they visit next summer, I will have beginning parachute training set up for them. Your training is more extensive than mine. But never forget that the important part is to give them alternatives so that they can solve issues using only the appropriate level of violence. Be an example of that to them." Nana saluted Kimberly's nanny with her drink.

As the meeting broke up and people started to leave, the grandmother pulled Hiero aside, "Ninja, can I have a moment of your time?" It was not a question.

"Of course, Possible-Sama." Yoriko stopped and waited politely nearby when she noticed her partner being stopped...

"Yoriko, dear," again, it was not a question, 'The chicken wings were delicious. Why don't you go and get a double takeout order for you and this young man to eat? I fear that your families will have finished dinner by the time you get back."

"Hai, Nana-Sama." Now they were alone.

"Hiero-chan," she started, "It's just Nana, not Mrs. Possible-Sama, or Nana-Sama, or even Mrs. Jones. Nana is the callsign that my fellows gave me, and that is who I am. Do you know why my future-self called you a major risk in the briefing she wrote to me and sent back?"

"No, Ma'am, I don't," the Ninja hoped that 'Ma'am' would be acceptable.

"It was your large stable of girlfriends. Heaven knows that I have no standing to complain about polyamory relationships, but she was concerned about your appearance as a player of young women. Her concern was that wasn't the proper role model for young Ronald and Kimberly." chuckling a bit, she remarked, "Actually, I seem to have become quite a prude in my old age."

"Nana," Hiero objected, "I no longer have a…"

"Hiero," Nana cut him off, "What is important here is how they see you treat women, not how many you are treating. I see you treat Yoriko with affection, respect and as a full partner, not a subordinate. That is a more important lesson than teaching them yet another way to subdue an opponent."

"Yes, Nana, I understand."

Nana saw Yoriko returning with a paper sack of carryout. She clapped the Ninja on the shoulder and said, "Good man, carry on."

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

ST103, CB, and daccu spend a lot of time helping me get this chapter out of the weeds. Thanks, guys!


	5. Tick Tick Tick

*** **_**Tick Tick Tick**_** ***

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, Possible Home, Breakfast Nook, Dinnertime)**

**A/N - what happens in the episode is not repeated in this story unless it needs to be changed for this story.**

Hiero, as it was custom, was having Dinner with the Possibles. Tim and Jim were a little more unruly than usual. This Ninja had given up any hope of real discipline for the Possible children years ago as their parents were far too lenient and laid back. Tonight Kim was complaining about having to sit in a room with other rule-breakers and gossip or read. He made a mental note to talk to Mr. Barkin. Perhaps Barkin could identify woodwork that needed polishing. That was the standard 'detention' of Yamanouchi.

Wade-san called in with a mission. It was to South America on a school night. Her parents protested at first, but then he saw her use the PDP, the powerful Puppy Dog Pout, the same technique that had defeated him years ago in the other timeline. Not as powerful as he remembered from the time her mother used it on him, but perhaps that was a function of maturity and practice. The agreement was that she could travel to South America if she ate her peas first. Even after living in this household for years now, he still could be surprised by their 'American Style Humor' as his Yoriko would say.

**Finite Middletons (Possible Home, Basement, Midnight, Two nights later)**

The Possible house was quiet. James and Anne were asleep; both had to get up and go to work in the morning. Jim and Tim were also in bed, maybe sleeping, they had school tomorrow. Kimberly and Ronald were on their way back, not from South America this time, but from a "haunted" private island in the Caribbean; they seemed to be able to sleep on pretty much any form of transport. They would be at school in the morning.

Hiero sat in one of the hot water soaking tubs watching Yoriko press the excess water out of her freshly washed hair. She often slipped over to the Possible house when their charges were out on a mission and were expected to return very late because the pair showed up there first. And it gave them some alone time. Still wet, but not dripping, she walked over to climb into the high-sided soaking tub. Putting his arms around her, he pulled her onto his lap, hearing her sigh.

"Do you ever miss them?" she asked.

"Miss who?" he answered, not knowing where this was going but was guessing it wasn't going to a happy place.

"Your old stable of girlfriends, I remember Ayame, Phuong, Midori, Natasha and what was her name? Flavia?"

"I lost many people that day as did you, Yori. People I loved, people I was friends with, people that I didn't like. I would have given my life gladly to save them, even if only a few. Is the question really whether you are a less than perfect substitute for them; a substitute that could be discarded once our responsibilities to our assigned families are complete?"

"I sometimes have that fear, yes."

"You are not a substitute, you are Yori Tanaka and hold my heart in a way that no one ever else has or ever will. I love you above all others and will to the end of time."

"And is this your way of telling me?"

"I am sorry for my lack of explicit communication," he nuzzled her wet hair, "I will correct my actions immediately."

"Do you ever think of what we will do when this mission is complete?"

"I fear my responsibilities to the Possibles may never end, some days I feel as if I am shepherding three children, other days it seems like five. Your Ron-chan will be grown and gone in several years, but I wonder if the Han will show up regardless of our intentions to ensure she is never orphaned. Even if you have no Han to help guide, perhaps Ron-chan will have babies that require our talents."

"Perhaps Kimberly-chan will have twins of her own for you to help care for?" Hiero could hear her grin.

"I believe that I would retire to Yamanouchi and become a celibate monk writing poetry in silent, solitary meditation before I would let that happen," he laughed.

Holding her more tightly in his arms, he changed the subject, "This should be the start of the true peril, tomorrow all the main players should be in the game. I worry that our charges aren't sufficiently prepared."

"My love," she quietly replied, "We can do only what we can do. Mistress Sensei believes that serious Ninja training shouldn't start until Ronald gets the MMP. We removed the crazed monkey mascot from Wannaweep and Ronald still has a fear of monkeys. Ronald prefers loafing to practice. Kimberly is bossy and is convinced that she knows best. Perhaps it is due to nature; perhaps it is the banks of the time stream trying to make events flow down the worn riverbed. We never knew them at this age. Maybe they are better in this version of the timestream; maybe they are not."

"Kimberly is not that bossy, and often she does know best," was the soft reply, "the two of them need work on their teamwork skills, but they are loyal to each other and will get better in time."

"How much time do we have left?" She turned around to face her partner.

"We have all the time that is available to us." he gave the same answer that he always gave to this question, bending forward to press his lips against hers, then murmured, "However long that is, it will not be long enough for me to love you."

**Finite Middletons (Stoppable Home, Ron's Room, next morning)**

"Ronnie, time to get up, honey," Jeanie Stoppable knocked on Ron's door, "Get a move on, I've let you sleep a little longer because you were out late with Kimberly last night."

"I'm awake!" her son's voice called back.

"Be downstairs in five minutes, or I'm sending Yoriko up!" She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Yoriko had just put a bowl of sliced fruit, strips of broiled fish, a wedge salad, and a platter of pancakes on the table.

"Thank you, Yoriko," said Gene Stoppable, pulling a couple of pancakes onto a plate and spearing a slice of melon and a couple of pieces of fish.

"It was my pleasure, Gene-san."

"Yoriko, we are leaving for Florida later this morning." Jeanie took a seat at the table and continued, "You have the van if you need it. After the convention is wrapped up, Gene and I are going to spend two days at Disney for some couple time. We expect to be back on Tuesday."

"I understand. Ronald and I will be fine here. In fact, the Possibles are going away for a 'couple's encounter' this weekend. Ronald and I will go to their house for the weekend," the young Ninja smiled, "that way I can give Hiero some help with the twins."

Gene laughed, "I thought that Jim and Tim would be easier to watch now that they are older."

"They are not as physically rambunctious as they used to be, but we still have to be on our toes for out of control advanced technology," replied the Nanny.

"Ronald and Kimberly at least are no worries, right?" suggested Gene.

"Hiero and I always worry about them. Their habit of helping people gets them into worrisome situations,…"

Ronald thudded down the stairs interrupting the conversation, "Yoriko, can you run me over to KP's? I don't want to be late."

"Ronald, don't you need breakfast?" his mother objected.

"I'll grab a bite with the Possibles, Mom."

A small voice was heard to say "Cheese omelets!"

Yoriko handed her charge a leather jacket, "We will take the bike. Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable, have a pleasant trip; we will see you on Tuesday."

Holding the bike upright while Ron climbed on the back, she asked, "How did the mission go last night?"

"Great, we retrieved the stolen disk, Wade had it rush-delivered to Professor Acari. Dr. Drakken's lair blew up as we were leaving, but I swear it wasn't my fault!"

**Finite Middletons (Possible Home, Hiero's Room, 1 PM)**

"Ugh, five more minutes, okaa-san," Yoriko mumbled sleepily.

Hiero rolled her over, her smile and bright eyes gave the lie to her sleepy act.

"We have to get up and be ready. Dr. Drakken and Shego should be making a move soon. Did you have a good nap?"

"Anytime I spend sleeping in your arms is a good nap. Has Subira confirmed them traveling in this direction?"

"Ichiro has Wade Load's comms under surveillance, and they haven't been spotted."

"In the previous version of the timeline, all of them met up at the Bueno Nacho. I think perhaps a soft drink and a couple of tacos are in order…"

"Take the bike, in fact, drop me off at the Stoppables. I'll pick up their van, just in case." Hiero expected the boys to be home before Kimberly and Ronald finished with after-school activities, but that was without supervillain involvement. Their current rules of engagement included avoiding helping Kimberly and Ronald in their mission work as much as possible.

**Finite Middletons (Bueno Nacho, 3 PM)**

"Hi, Miss Yoriko, welcome to Bueno Nacho."

"Ohayou Ned-san, could I have a number eight combo with crunchy tacos, please. Have you seen Ronald or Kimberly today?" After living in the US for years, she no longer automatically used the '-san' and the Japanese greetings, but she used them for people like Ned because it made them feel a little unique and Ned was a good kid.

"That will be five dollars, please. Haven't seen them, but their last period ends in five minutes and after-school activities run another hour to hour and a half." Taking her money and handing her a receipt, he lowered his voice and practically whispered, "The rumor is that Kimberly has detention and detention runs until four."

"Thank you. I will wait for them here if that is OK with you." She took her tray with two tacos, a burrito, a small cup for hot tea, and a large empty cup for an iced beverage.

"Of course, Miss Yoriko, stay as long as you like. Have a Muy Bueno Day!" Ned was always glad to have Ron's Nanny stay to eat, she wasn't a large woman or mean looking, or anything like that, but her very presence seemed to reduce the level of rambunctiousness of the other customers.

Yoriko ate the tacos and waited, sipping on hot tea. Immediately after hearing Ron's little scooter pull up out front, she saw the pair run in. Rufus hopped out of Ron's pocket and ran to the counter where he waited his turn to put in an order. They seemed to be about to argue when the roof was ripped cleanly off the building and disintegrating into pieces with the pieces sucked into a conical beam.

The after-school customers all ran out the doors while the Ninja quieted her heart and focused on not being seen. At the same time, she checked to make sure that her folded-war fans were ready to draw and palmed a shuriken in her left hand. Looking down, she saw Rufus sitting on her table, staring at her burrito with large eyes. She pushed it over to the rodent.

A pale woman with long black hair, dressed in a superhero style spandex green and black outfit, leaped to the floor yelling, "Kim Possible has something that belongs to us!" From the pictures on file, it was obviously Shego.

Kim, jumping on a table with hands on hips, declared, "Guess what?! I don't want it!"

Taken aback, the pale woman asked, "It's on you? What, like it's stuck?"

"Hello! This isn't a nose ring!"

Drakken in the small platform hovering over the building ordered, "Take her whole nose if you have to!"

Shego's expression changed from surprised to that of a bully gleefully anticipating an upcoming beat down. Or at least the taking of lunch money.

"Works for me!" she shouted, green flames surrounding her hands.

The battle was on, with Kim initially on the run dodging blasts of green plasma. When she ran past Ron, she tossed him her Kimmunicator, saying,

"Get Wade on the Kimmunicator! There's got to be a way to get this thing off!"

Shego growls, "Allow me!"

Yoriko snapped a steel war fan open to deflect the edge of a plasma blast that would have struck the happily wagging tail of the mole rat burrowing into the burrito. So far, none of the combatants (or Ron!) seemed to have noticed her. Then unbelievably, Ron and Wade started up a conversation and even asked Kimberly a question in the middle of the fight! It was all she could do to remain seated; if she got up, it was unclear whose butt she would kick first.

Kim finally grabbed the pale woman's ankle and threw her out the door where she collapsed in a heap tangled up with Mr. Barkin.

From the Kimmunicator, she heard Wade say, "You can't disarm it - it's too small. We gotta get the nano-tick to let go. Ooh, there must be some way to blow the circuits."

Yoriko had almost decided to abandon the rules of engagement and carefully shave the bomb off of Kimberly's nose using her shuriken when Ron called for a packet of Diablo sauce. That made sense, it should short out the tick part making the tick release. It _**probably**_ wouldn't detonate the bomb on contact…

Shego popped up by Kim and Ron and was immediately crushed to the floor and sat on by "Big" Mike Little, a friend and classmate who might actually be too big to be a Sumo wrestler.

Ron cradled Kim in one arm and leaned her back to make the tick level. He carefully put one drop on the device then took a straw and sucked it off. The blonde hero was firm, careful, and in charge. Suddenly realizing that he held a straw with a bomb in it, he started to panic. Kimberly grabbed the straw and turned around. Using the straw like a blowgun, she blew the tick into the small hovering platform. Dr. Drakken jumped out, there was a loud bang, and the hovering platform fell to the ground.

Two armored vans pulled up with a half dozen men in riot gear running up to take the villains into custody. 'Well,' thought Yoriko, 'Not going to be able to talk to Shego alone today.' Seeing that Kim was going back to school with Mr. Barkin and a few of the other students, the white-clad Ninja slipped up behind Ron, put an arm around his shoulder and quietly said,

"Baka-chan, we need to talk."

Ron watched a silent Yoriko get on her bike and head back home. He was going back to school to hang with Kim, but he thought this was something that was best dealt with sooner rather than later. After all, it is never good when a woman calls you an idiot child and says "We need to talk," right?

Once home, he found Yoriko kneeling in front of her small shrine that was tucked away in the corner of the den. The memorial was simple, consisting of a large photo of a mountain and a second large photo of a building nestled among cherry blossoms. Between them was a shuriken acting as a base for a candle. Many smaller pictures of people were tucked in the edges of the larger photo frames.

Ron knelt beside her and said nothing. She meditated for nearly twenty minutes, before turning to her young charge to quietly say,

"These photos are to honor and remind me of people that are now passed on. I do not want your picture or Kimberly's or Rufus's picture up here. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"I think so," Ronald thought he saw a tear in one of her eyes.

"I do not think you truly understand. Rufus, please find another place to sit."

As the mole rat hopped out of the pocket and jumped up on the shrine's table, she continued,

"I was very pleased how you handled removing the explosive tick on Kimberly. You were confident, knew what you were doing, and she respected that. She put herself into your arms trusting that you would protect her and help her. How did it feel when you held her to bend her backward so the Diablo sauce would only drip on the device?"

"It felt great. KP relaxed and let me hold her without protesting."

"Can you guess what I was not pleased with?"

"Uh, I'm going to say no."

"I was displeased that when Shego attacked Kimberly that you did not help. You even had a conversation with Wade and even asked Kimberly a stupid question when she needed to be concentrating on her opponent!"

"But Kim is the better martial artist! I'd just get in her way!"

"Then perhaps you need to practice only being in the way of villains… Rufus? Rufus-san?"

Rufus was staring at a small photo of a young black-haired girl wearing a yukata with a raven pattern walking holding onto the arm of a young blond wearing a white karate gi. The couple was walking under cherry trees. The woman appeared to have a small pink animal riding on her shoulder…

"Rufus-san! Pay attention!"

As soon as the rodent perked up, she told it,

"Rufus, you will play the role of a Kimberly who is fighting defense, that is, run around and do not let me touch you. Ronald, your job is to help Kimberly without getting in her way."

"Begin!"

For such a small animal Rufus had good endurance. Ronald took way too long to figure out how to execute a surprise attack, especially when Yoriko would turn her attention on him immediately after a distraction/surprise move and attack the blond until Rufus regained her focus by launching an attack on her. After hitting Ronald with several punches when she ran past and noticed that he wasn't moving, the boy finally seemed to get the general idea.

Actually, given the tight quarters of the den, both of her opponents got into the spirit of the exercise, as soon as she would focus on one, that one would go into a defense of some sort and the other would attack her.

Yoriko had nearly lost her anger at her idiot charge, although she was already planning to drill him on "distraction combat" on a regular schedule. She was about to halt the unscheduled exercise when a red-haired streak came flying into the den tackling her. Rolling free of the new attacker, she went three on one (well, really two and a quarter on one) for nearly five additional minutes when they heard

"Yamenasai yo!" (sort of 'knock it off!' when addressing rowdy children)

All the combatants looked up to see Hiero standing at the entryway with Jim and Tim. The 'Dark Ninja' looked over the battlefield, muttering "ii kagen ni shinasai" to which Yoriko cried in outrage, "Act my age!? Attack the Dark Ninja and his minions!"

Rufus wisely scampered to a high place out of reach, and a general wrestling melee broke out. Yoriko took Hiero to the floor with a sacrifice Judo throw, and they were soon in a grappling contest of speed versus strength. There may have been tickling involved. Jim and Tim would have been quickly overwhelmed except Kimberly seemed to keep changing sides.

After a short time, the two Ninja Nannies got up and called a halt to the general mayhem.

The room was a shamble; the furniture was an old, heavy, "solid" oak style that was nearly indestructible. The room was quickly put into order, with no notable damage except the two table lamps which were undoubtedly the worse for wear. The small shrine was untouched.

**Finite Middletons (Possible Basement/Baths, before Dinner)**

Yoriko stretched out her legs in the hot water bath; it was large enough that she and Kimberly both could float on their backs without touching the sides or each other. At the moment, they were sitting on the built-in seat that ran around the inside of the wall of the tub.

"I've got to find a better sparring room, I'm going to have a bruise or two from slamming into the couch," she said quietly, rubbing a sore spot on the side of her leg. Given the spirited discussion over the last Steel Toe versus Pain King professional wrestling match going on in 'the testosterone tub,' there was little chance she would be overheard.

"What the heck were you guys doing?" asked the redhead soaking beside her.

"I was showing my displeasure at Ron's behavior at Bueno Nacho this afternoon by demonstrating what he should have done." Yoriko lifted up her leg trying to see if a bruise was becoming visible

"What did he do wrong? He got the explosive tick off my nose, that was good, right?"

"Yes, that part was indeed, excellent. How did you feel when Ronald tilted you back and dripped the hot sauce on your nose?"

"Uh, OK I guess. Sometimes something clicks, and Ronnie becomes Movie Hero Ron instead of Random Ron, you know what I mean? He cradled me in his arm and had his serious face on. It was… it felt nice. He does have his moments. But when I walked into his house, it seemed like you were angry at him."

"I was. When Shego attacked you, he did not jump to your defense but was a spectator, a cheerleader. Is he always like that?"

"Sometimes. Well, usually. I'm the fighter, often, he runs around distracting henchmen, then finds the self-destruct button and presses it. That's helpful."

"He needs to be a fighter and battle at your side, not cheer you on from the sidelines."

"The way we do it now works, I don't want him to get hurt."

Frustrated that her Ronald-kun was thought of as only the distraction, the Ninja said, "If Ronald is not good enough to be your partner and fight at your side, you should replace him."

"Replace him!?" Kim didn't exactly shout, but when she looked guiltily over at the other hot tub, she saw Ron's brown eyes gazing back at her.

"I can't do that! … I won't do that!" she fiercely whispered, lowering herself down into the water until her lips were barely above the surface of the water. "How can you say 'replace him,' just like that?! You and Hiero, all the games we played when we were younger… You've been training us all along! Right?!"

"Now is not the time or the place to discuss this, Kimberly-kun," the Ninja quietly said, "I admit that we should not rush to any decision.

"Food! Food! Food!" The chanting started up from the Tweebs in the other tub. Yoriko joined the chanting, and after a nudge, Kim joined in.

With a great splashing of water, Hiero stood up facing away from them, "Come Ronald-san, we must prepare a feast."

Kim got a view of a muscular back and a butt that deserved to be memorialized in marble. A brief view because she quickly turned around because the rule in a mixed bath is that 'you may see, but looking or staring is rude.'

Yoriko's gaze reminded her of Ron's gaze when looking at the Bueno Nacho menu board after being out of the country for several days.

"Yoriko!" she hissed, "One does not stare at other people in the baths, remember?"

The Ninja blinked and then laughed, "Yes, but that butt belongs to me…"

After a dinner of shrimp and chicken stir-fry with potstickers on the side, everyone retired to the living room to binge on one of Jim and Tim's favorite anime series, "Tokyo High School Coed Defenders." This was one of the class of anime shows where you could measure the danger that Tokyo was in by how many teenaged girls it took to defeat the threat.

In the current season, Tokyo was threatened by aliens sending a series of robot Godzilla monsters to destroy the city's defenses in preparation for an invasion. It was a three teenaged girl threat. No magical powers, but these girls were mecha pilots. The current episode focused on the budding romance between Mai Ishiyama, one of the mecha pilots and Kano Fujihara, the Robot Club president who moonlighted as her chief mechanic.

Yoriko and Hiero were curled up at the end of the couch; they were paying much more attention to each other instead of the show. Jim and Tim were on the floor leaning on floor pillows. Ronald and Kimberly were sharing a giant bean bag, separated by a large bowl of popcorn and Rufus

"Ronnie?" Kim said quietly.

"I know KP. I can't believe that Mai's being distracted by that pretty boy, Giro, either."

"I wanted to… What? Giro?"

"Yeah, Giro. He's the captain of the Kendo Club, you know, the pretty boy that just wants her for arm candy."

"Ugh. Pretty boy," squeaked a small voice, "Kano and Mai **OTP**."

"Uh, yeah… Ronnie, did you hear what Yoriko and I were talking about in the baths?"

"Uh, no, I didn't hear anything," Ronald was suddenly acting nervous, "you know the twins were talking and splashing, I didn't hear anyone say anything about replacing me…"

She reached over and took his hand, giving it a squeeze, "Together forever, Ronnie, I'd never replace you."

"I'll get better KP; I'll do better…"

"Together forever, no matter how long…"


	6. Monkey Fist Strikes Killer Bebes

*** **_**Monkey Fist Strikes**_** ***

**Finite Middletons (Possible Home - breakfast nook)**

James sat at the end of the table, pretending to read the paper; Ann sat on the bench next to him and was busy 'distracting' her beloved rocket scientist. Shaking his head, Hiero placed plates with eggs, bacon, and French Toast in front of the Possible elders. This was one of those mornings where an unknowing observer would have thought the pair had only been married eighteen days instead of eighteen years.

Kimberly came in and had a seat at the table.

"Morning, honey. How'd Cambodia go?" asked her father.

"Mixed. Thanks, Hiero," she said as the Ninja put a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of her.

"The good part was that I rescued a priceless artifact from a ferociously snaky, spiky pit," she explained, "Less good was that a ninja stole it."

"I wouldn't have thought that you'd run into a lot of ninjas in Cambodia," said Anne.

"I guess you never know where those darn ninjas will show up," remarked James, abandoning the pretense of trying to read his paper with a kiss to his wife.

"Indeed," Hiero poured more coffee for the elder Possibles and placed a glass of juice in front of Kimberly.

"Oh," James said, "Larry felt so bad that you missed game night that Aunt June invited us all over for dinner Saturday…"

"Gentlemen, go back and wash your hands, you reek of rocket fuel," Hiero commanded the twins who had popped in for breakfast.

"But germs can't live in...," started Jim.

"...monomethyl hydrazine, so it's no big," finished Tim.

"Boys! Wash your hands!" Anne commanded, "then come back and have breakfast."

"Yes Ma'am," the two raced off.

"So, Hiero," asked James, "do you and Yoriko have anything planned for Saturday? I'm sure you'd be welcome to join us."

"I regret to say that Yoriko and I are taking Ronald to Mount Middleton to spend the day working on his belay technique for rock climbing. His performance on their mission to rescue the baby eagle was unacceptable." Hiero gave Kimberly a sharp look to cut off the protest he saw coming.

"Did Ronald lose his pants again?" Anne smirked.

"If it was not for the danger of rope burns. Yoriko would have him perform his belay duties naked," Hiero answered with a perfectly straight face.

James winced thinking of the parts that would be vulnerable to rope burn in such a case.

**Finite Middletons (England - the Fiske Estate, Saturday)**

The Winter Ninja dropped down silently from the rafters of the basement and stood between the four jade monkey statues. Many years ago as a young girl, she had dreamed of standing before the jade statues of legend, of becoming imbued with Mystical Monkey Power and then being made the Chosen One. After years of fighting evil and protecting her beloved family and clan, Yori would become the successor to Master Sensei. She resisted the temptation to use the legendary arcane sculptures and climbed back up into the shadows. This was not the time for dreams, it was mission time. She heard a bell, undoubtedly Ronald-kun was at the front door. The Dark Ninja was patrolling the outside of the manor and would assist if needed.

Her earpiece clicked, and the Dark Ninja reported,

"Ronald is here, but the Kimberly by his side is an illusion. A hologram perhaps? No body heat or heartbeat. The giveaway was that I've not seen her touch him." Kimberly wasn't a particularly touchy-feely kind of girl, not even especially prone to giving hugs, but seemed to grab onto Ronald constantly, often to pull him out of the way of a catastrophe or to merely get him moving.

The Winter Ninja loosened her war fans in her sash and slid a shuriken into her right hand. If Kimberly weren't here, then it would be her honor to watch Ronald-kun's back tonight. Ronald and Kimberly were shown into the room while Lord Fiske ranted to them about his quest for the power and his modifications to his body. Lord Fiske sounded insane. She wondered if that was a side effect of the MMP. He moved to stand in the center of the statues. Calling out to something, he was lifted up in the air, surrounded by a yellow glow. Her body tensed to spring into action with a sneak attack, but Fiske attacked the Kimberly illusion, letting Ron escape the room.

Yoriko slipped to the floor and reexamined the jade monkeys. Their silent, cold power still called to her. She was climbing back up to her hiding place when her earpiece clicked again.

"Ronald is on his way back, but he's running with a purpose, not in a panic," Hiero said, "I thought I heard him say something about becoming what he fears. I think he's going to try for the MMP."

Ronald ran back into the room yelling,

"Hey, Monkeys! Hit Me!"

As before with Fiske, she watched Ronald lift up in the air, surrounded by the yellow glow. A glowing Rufus was lifted out of his pocket and dropped to the floor. Fiske arrived, complaining that the Mystical Monkey Power was supposed to be his exclusively, and the battle was on. Ronald was fighting well, but his lack of training and prehensile feet proved decisive. Fiske grabbed the blonde with a foot and pinned him to the ground. The White Ninja was again getting ready to spring for a surprise attack when her boy shouted, "Rufus! Search and destroy!"

Just like Fiske, the Winter ninja only now realized that the entire fight was just a distraction. The nobleman dropped Ronald and raced after Rufus, catching the statues when the small rodent pushed them off their pedestals. He had just managed to snag all four and was shouting in triumph when Ronald struck home with a spinning jump kick, sending the statues flying to shatter in pieces when they smashed into the ground.

The fight was over, and Fiske collapsed in shock at the loss of the jade statues. As before, Ronald received the MMP, and the jade monkeys were shattered. She held up her hand, touching her thumb to her forefinger. As she separated them, a soft, blue spark arc danced between them. Unlike the last timestream, this timestream she would personally see that her Ronald-kun was adequately trained in the MMP…

**Finite Middletons (Following Monday, Ron Stoppable's bedroom, about dawn)**

"Whoa! Yoriko! What the heck! Your hands are ice cold!"

"I had thought to use iced water to wake you up, Ronald-kun, but I would have had to change the sheets after you left for school. Your alarm has already gone off. Time to get up, as agreed, you are starting extra training this morning."

"Five more minutes!" he begged, after all, he didn't ask for the MMP… No, wait a minute, he did ask for it. Still, ice cold hands on his stomach was a bit much. 'What's a Mystical Monkey Master got to do to get a little respect around here?' he grumbled, dragging his Mystical Monkey Butt out of bed.

"A Mystical Monkey Novice who does not want to find himself replaced as his best friend's partner needs to be in better cardio condition. I am going into the kitchen to get a pitcher of water and ice. Be out of bed and dressed by the time I return. Today will be an easy workout. But don't think that gets you off the hook for rock climbing training. Hanging upside-down by your pants is no way to protect Kimberly from falling. The next Saturday that you and she are without a mission you will learn how to belay your partner correctly, and she will learn to put in place sufficient clips for her rope."

Yoriko laughed to herself, 'Child, it will take far more than a single lesson to even begin to learn about the MMP.'

The bleary-eyed blond was up, dressed in running shoes and sweats when Yoriko appeared in white sweats and white hoodie with a small pack with a container of iced water and a set of unbreakable glasses. He followed her out the front door, and they jogged to the high school.

Reaching the bleachers, Yoriko placed her bag on the end of a bench along with her sweatshirt.

"Follow me, please," she instructed her student and started running up and down the bleachers.

Ron quickly noticed that it was pretty evident that his "Ninja Nanny" was far more Ninja than Nanny, she set the pace up and down the bleachers, and when she called for a break, he was gasping for breath while she, to be fair, was breathing hard; but it was clear that she was holding back for his benefit. Handing him a glass of iced water she seemed amused when he gulped down half of it and poured the rest on his head.

"Hi Ron, Are you working out to get ready for a sport? Where's Kim?" a cheery voice called from a young woman who had been running laps. She was average height, dark brown wavy hair, green eyes with olive skin. Yoriko was guessing Mediterranean heritage.

"I'm hoping KP's still snoozing, that's where any sane person would be." Ron was panting from exertion in between sentences, "Crystal, this is Yoriko Tanaka, at this time of the morning, she's my trainer and slave driver. Yoriko, this is Crystal Stamas, she's on the cheer squad with KP."

"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Tanaka," Crystal replied holding out a hand.

"Nice to meet you also. Please, call me Yoriko," she replied, shaking the girl's hand, "If you will excuse us, Ronald needs one more set of bleachers."

"Can I join you?"

"Certainly," Yoriko answered and then led the pair up the bleachers.

The Ninja set a hard pace, and it didn't surprise her that Ron kept up the pace better with the young woman running with them. Still, after a half dozen trips up and down she called a halt.

"Crystal, you are a powerful runner. Perhaps when we settle into a schedule, you'd like to join us?"

"Maybe," she panted, "Cheer squad requires strength and endurance. (pant) This would be a way (pant) to work on it. See you guys later. I need a cool-down and shower before class."

Ron waved as she jogged off. Turning to Yoriko, he asked,

"Please tell me that you work out when I'm not looking," he gasped.

"Most mornings I meet Hiero for a five-kilometer run very early before anyone is up. Want to hear a secret?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Some mornings we run with Anne-sensei. She claims the oxygen boost makes her hands steadier for surgery." Yoriko put the water and their glasses back in her little pack and put the pack on. "But the secret is that she is a faster distance runner than I am. So, if you don't want to be shown up by a pair of old women, you need this workout."

"How old are you?" he asked casually as if he didn't know better than to ask any woman over twelve her what her age was.

"I am twenty-nine, Ronnie-kun."

"Pshaw, that's not old, just barely old enough for me to call you 'Nee-san,'" the blonde said flashing a grin hoping he wasn't offending her.

Looking at the glare on her face, he amended his statement to the more respectful term for older sister, "Onee-sama?"

"Beat me three sparring matches out of five, and you may address me as Nee-san."

"But we don't have sparring matches… Oh…"

Laughing, she started them on an easy jog back to the house to get ready for the day.

*** **_**Attack of the Killer Bebe**_** ***

**Finite Middletons (Stoppable home, Dinner Table)**

"Ronald-kun" Yoriko placed three bowls of sticky rice, a large pot of queso-chili-beef stew, and a pot of mild curry beef with potatoes for her on the table. His parents were out for the next three days, Jeanie was running a Burperware expo and convention, and Gene was providing analysis sessions on sales targets for their senior salesmen.

"Try the Tex-Mex stew over rice. It is a fusion recipe I am working on."

Both the boy and his naked mole rat were in a down mood. That was unusual.

"Otouto, you seem down tonight. What is the problem?"

The blond poked at the rice in a bowl, "I went to the guidance counselor yesterday, and they told me I need an extra-curricular activity because it would look good on a college application. I was talking to KP, and she was telling me how much she liked cheerleading, and I thought, 'Hey, I could be a cheerleader! I'm upbeat! I've got enthusiasm!'"

He put some of the Tex-Mex stew on the rice and pushed it over to Rufus. His little buddy sniffed it and started nibbling on it. The rodent dug in after making a small sound of delight, and a tiny declaration of

"Cheesy!"

"Of course I put cheese in it, Rufus, we aren't barbarians!" Yoriko smiled; at least one of her boys had cheered up a little.

"Ronald, What did Kimberly think of you becoming a cheerleader?"

"She thought it was stupid. The entire squad thought that it was stupid. I thought that maybe the problem was that I am a guy while the rest of the squad are girls. That it would mess up the uniformity of the routines or maybe they were worried that I might replace someone in a pyramid or something. So last night, I came up with a costume to be the mascot instead of being a regular cheerleader. I figured that being the school mascot would be separate enough not to mess up their routines. But today, both Bonnie and Kim said that was a stupid idea too and that everyone would be laughing at me."

"But haven't you worked with the cheer squad already?"

"I've been a spotter for them during practice when they were working on new moves," he said, adding, "Nobody ever got hurt when I was spotting."

"What about the black eye?"

"I mean that none of **the girls** got hurt, that black eye was from getting an elbow to my face from Jessica when I was catching her."

"Surely there must be some other club or organization you could join."

"None that I could think of that sounded fun," Ron added more Tex-Mex stew topping to his little buddy's bowl of rice and decided to start eating his own before it was all gone.

"Perhaps you could start a club?"

He chewed thoughtfully, swallowed, then asked, "Like what?"

Yoriko thought for a moment and then said,

"I'm not sure. Let's think about this. It needs to be something fun that others would want to do as a group. It needs to have some personal development aspect to it. That could be physical or mental development, best to be both. For your college applications, I would think that something with a public service aspect would be highly desirable."

They bounced around several ideas but came up with nothing that was attractive.

"Your Tex-Mex fusion stew is pretty good," Ron said with Rufus chirping "Cheesy! Yum!"

"Thank you, Ronald-kun," she replied, smiling. "I wasn't sure, my sense of smell has been off the last couple of days, and I was afraid that it was affecting my ability to season the dish correctly."

"Maybe you are coming down with a cold?" her charge suggested.

"Perhaps. I will get extra sleep just in case." When she saw the smiles appearing on both the blonde and the molerat, she added, "I will take a nap in the afternoon so as not to affect morning exercises. Tonight, we will start on the advanced meditation exercises to connect your body to the MMP that resides within you. It has been over three weeks since you gained the MMP; it should be settled in your system sufficiently to start pulling the power. I believe that we have proven that you don't need an external source of MMP to regain your power levels, only rest."

"After Agony County?" They had been watching the prime-time soap opera for several weeks when there wasn't a mission.

"Of course," she replied, "I am hoping that Danny drops Charity for Suzanne. Suzanne is strong-willed and has a backbone of iron. She will give him a reason to straighten up and not be such a 'bad boy'…

**Finite Middletons (Kidnap plan foiled, Drakken is in jail, Bebe robots scrapped, Late pizza dinner at the Possible home to celebrate)**

Hiero handed out plates to James, Anne, Dr. Chen, and Dr. Ramesh. As they selected their favorite slices of pizza, he poured glasses of iced tea.

Anne said. "I can't believe Drew Lipsky turned into a mad scientist."

James, picking up a slice of pepperoni and bacon, said, "Let alone become our daughter's arch-nemesis."

Dr. Chen elbowed James, declaring, "But my man here knew what to do!"

"Possible, you rock!" added Dr. Ramesh.

James modestly said, "Oh, please. Drakken was so obvious. I mean, really. The whole Bebe thing. The hive mind behavior was clearly the result of a cybertronic linkage through a wireless control network with short-range ultrasonic repeaters…"

Drs. Chen and Ramesh just looked at each other and said, "Uh, sure."

James said, "Poor Drew. Maybe if we hadn't laughed at him back then, there would be one less mad scientist running around."

Hiero noticed that Kim was standing in the doorway, listening.

Later that evening as he was putting Kim's clothes away he heard her talking on the phone to Ron.

"The fact that I was so rotten to you, that's not gonna drive you to become some kind of mask-wearing villain, is it?"

"…"

"Well, yes, I did think that you joining the squad wasn't a good idea…"

"…"

"OK, I **called** it a stupid idea, but…"

"…"

"Yes, the rest of the squad said it was a stupid idea, too. But we should have been nicer about it, right? And a girl should always give her best friend a chance… So, it seems to me that I need to give you a…"

"…"

"A new club? Really? What kind of club do you have in mind?"

"…"

"OK, I'll wait for you to iron out the details."

"…"

"Yeah, see you in the morning. 'Night, Ronnie."

"Hiero?" she called out when she noticed him slipping past carrying an empty laundry basket.

"Yes, imouto-san?"

"Why did you stop training me alongside Ron and Yoriko in the mornings?"

"Yoriko judged that Ronald needs cardio more than strength training but you wanted to work out in the weight room." the Ninja replied, adding "I seem to recall something about a young man named Paul who works out in the mornings..."

"Yeah, well, turns out that Paul's muscles are from a bottle. And he was a jerk, I had to call off Big Mike who was about to pound him into the ground."

"Honto?"

"Yeah, Big Mike is convinced that 'small, delicate females' need to be watched out for."

"Is Justine on that list?"

"She's number one on that list. Number one on several of Mike's lists," the redhead laughed, then asked, "So can we go back to training together?"

"Certainly, the group is running bleachers in the morning. I will wake you up thirty minutes earlier in the morning."

"OK. I'd better turn in then. Night, Hiero. Wait, what group?"

*** **_**Lucius Fox**_** ***

**Finite Middletons (Gotham City, Wayne Enterprises)**

Lucius Fox, research head of the Applied Sciences division picked up his phone and dialed.

"Good morning, Mr. Wayne.

"…"

"I'm looking at your latest request. Now, if you don't want to tell me exactly what you're doing, well, that just means that when I'm asked, I don't have to lie. But don't think of me as an idiot. It really looks to me like you are requesting special weapons designed to take out superheroes. Superheroes like Team Go."

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

ST103, CB, and Daccu spent a lot of time helping me with plot and such. Thanks, guys!


	7. Mind Games Part 1

*** **_**Mind Games Day 1**_** ***

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, Possible Home, Basement Workout Corner, after dinner)**

"Clothes? Since when do you do your own clothes, Ronnie?" Kim was down in the basement, working out on their weight machine. He had called her from their laundry room to see if Wade had figured out anything about the strange request for help they had received from someone who claimed to have swapped bodies with Dr. Drakken. She idly thought that she should ask Wade to get Ron his own Kimmunicator…

"Since I noticed that Yoriko was walking through when I was on my cellphone to put away clothes. I think she was checking up on me…"

"Yoriko? Really? Sounds pretty paranoid to me."

"Oh, really? I seem to recall that she and Hiero are Ninjas. Have you forgotten?"

"And have you forgotten that they have been looking out for us since we were five?"

"No, but what if I was talking to a girl or something, and I wanted to keep it private?"

"A girl or _something_?" Kimberly looked around to make sure she was alone. "Do I know her? What's her name?"

"OK, You're the only girl I talk to on the phone. But there might be another one someday, and I don't want to raise suspicion by changing my behavior."

"…" there was silence on the line.

"Hey! It could happen!" Ron protested.

"Oh, sorry, I'm absolutely sure that it will happen someday. It's just that I think maybe you're right. Hiero walks through with my clothes or fresh towels, and he's done it when I was talking on the phone. But I'm not sure I have the spare time to mess with clothes, what with projects, missions, and extracurriculars."

"Yeah, all those people thinking you're the greatest must be terrible," Kim was pretty sure that Ron's voice was a little sarcastic.

"Hey, it's a lot of work!" she pointed out.

"Admit it, you're smart, athletic, pretty and popular, that's pretty much cake."

Yep, that was sarcasm. A bit offended, she retorted, "I'm surprised you have the time, what with all that video gaming, watching wrestling and eating snackage!"

"Hey! I'm working on getting a new extracurricular club started. Don't forget the demands of raising Rufus as a single parent. Plus, the pressures of maintaining my image."

"…" Ron thought he heard a soft snort and imagined the accompanying eye-roll.

"OK, so I don't exactly have an image yet, but I'm working on it. But seriously, all you have to do is take your dirty clothes and stuff down to the hamper, someone else will wash them, especially if you forget that one stinking time and put something red in with a bunch of whites... Then later, you pull clean stuff from the dryer, fold it, and carry your stuff up to your room."

"OK, I'll think about it. Got to get back to my weights, I'll call you as soon as Wade calls me with a lead…"

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, Possible Home, Dinner Table, Next Day)**

Hiero had thought that after all the time he had lived with the Possibles, they couldn't surprise him. He was wrong. The Stoppables were out running a four-day long fan fiction expo, so Yoriko and Ronald were having dinner with him and the Possibles along with Justine and Mike from the 'Blue Pimpernel Society.' Kim and Ron had forgotten to reschedule the study session on American Literature when Wade called in the location of Drakken's lair. The membership of the 'BPS' had varied a bit over the years, but Justine and Mike were both charter and permanent members. When the pair were invited to stay for dinner by Mrs. Dr. P, Justine had said 'Yes, please and thank you,' because it appeared that the meal was going to be highly entertaining. Mike, well, Mike was just a big fan of her 'brainloaf'. Hiero, a fan of brainloaf himself, kept a freezer in the basement stocked with frozen burger meat and brain loaves ready to heat and eat. This was not the domestic Ninja's first rodeo starring Ron Stoppable, Rufus and Mike Little as dinner guests.

Still, so far, it was a typical dinner at the Possible house. The surprise came in the form of their mystery guest, a familiar blue-skinned Mad Scientist who claimed that he wasn't really Dr. Drakken but a 'Private Dobbs' who had been kidnapped and forced to swap bodies with Dr. Drakken.

Kimberly and Ronald also claimed to have swapped bodies in an accident in Drakken's lair. Observing the pair for fifteen minutes convinced him and Yoriko of the truth of that claim even if they hadn't seen copies of the mission logs from the previous timestream.

Yet, the elder Possibles seemed to think that swapping of their children's minds was 'no big.' Anne-sensei said "as a board-certified neurosurgeon, I've got to say, it's just not possible to swap brains" while James-sensei's comment was "Chasing bad guys, switching brains. High school sure has changed since my day."

As the teens cleared away the dinner dishes and put away leftovers, Anne took Yoriko aside,

"It really isn't possible to swap brains, but something is going on here. I am going to call Jeanie and tell her that Ronald is spending the night. I want them both where I can keep an eye on them. Can you spend the night?"

"Yes, Anne-sensei. Actually, that works out well, I have been drilling Ronald in nightly mental discipline exercises that focus on the connection between mind and body." Yoriko looked thoughtful, "It will be interesting to see if his mind really has a new body. Would you be interested in observing?"

"How about a control?" she said, looking at Jim and Tim.

"Sorry Mom, running over to spend the night with Tom to make a 3 am astronomy lab," said Tim.

"Need to be sharp and not have our brains mystified," added Jim.

Anne looked over at Justine and Mike, who kept playfully bumping into each other while putting dishes in the dishwasher.

"Mike, Justine, would you call home and get permission to spend the night?"

'This evening is getting more and more interesting,' thought Justine.

'Mmm, leftover Brainloaf sandwiches for a late night snack,' thought Mike, although to be fair, that thought was quickly followed by 'Extra cuddle time with Justina,'

Later that evening, Kimberly, Ronald, Justine, and Mike followed Yoriko into the basement where Hiero had placed mats in front of one of the hot water tubs.

Hiero said, "Kneel here, please. The water can be used to absorb mental energy should something get out of control."

The teens, dressed in tee shirts and sweat pants, knelt on the mat. (Any of their friends that hung out with Kim and Ron learned to carry a spare set of clothes at all times. If it wasn't being covered in chocolate or spaghetti sauce, it was helping people in muddy flood waters, etc.)

Yoriko lit a candle, lowered the lights, and started the teens through a guided meditation while Anne slipped in and had a seat on a bench next to Hiero.

Ron closed his (her?) eyes. 'Relax your hands…' Yoriko's voice was soft and smooth. He had done this before, but his hands felt different. Smaller but still very strong. Wiggling his (her?) fingers were pretty much the same.

Kimberly closed her (his?) eyes and followed the instructions. It was more or less the same as meditation she had done in the past. To be picky, she had a couple of body parts missing, and a couple of other body parts added, but for the relaxation exercise focusing on major muscle groups, it was pretty much the same as usual.

Justine was trying to give this an honest try, it was after all, pretty simple: "Focus on your hands, now relax your hands, now focus on your feet…"

Mike found that as he quieted his mind, his senses came alive. He swore he could feel Justine's body heat from where she knelt close to him and could detect the smell of her citrus bodywash.

Yoriko moved from relaxation meditation to "finding your happy place" visualization. At this point, the teens were pretty much out of it. In fact, a practically comatose Rufus slid out of Ron's pocket. The pocket on the sweats on Kim's body that is.

Hiero scooped up the little naked molerat and returned to sit next to Mrs. Dr. P. Tiny electrical shocks raced up his arms. Rufus had received a charge of the MMP along with Ron that night in Monty's basement, but compared to Ron, the little guy was practically an MMP dynamo. He felt slightly energized as if he was back in the centuries-old courtyard of the original Yamanouchi basking in the faint residual MMP left behind by Toshimiru himself when he carved the temple out of solid rock centuries ago.

Yoriko looked back at Anne, the surgeon looked relaxed but still alert. Seeing the younger woman look at her, Anne said,

"I'm fairly resistant to hypnosis."

Taking Rufus from Hiero, she held out the deeply slumbering rodent. She asked, "Care to try an experiment, Anne-sensei?"

Looking over at her Ninja with a questioning look on her face, Hiero simply replied,

"Sensei, I'd trust her with the lives of your sons."

'**The lives of your sons**.' If push came to shove, Anne knew that she couldn't really explain why Hiero lived in her home. She believed there must be some kind of "for the greater good" thing going on. He was quiet, not very emotionally outgoing, but his devotion to Kimmy and even more to his "Bouyatachi," as he called Jim and Tim, was unquestionable. Maybe even higher than his dedication to Yoriko, who he obviously loved.

When the boys were infants, he would sleep on a thin futon between the cribs so "they will not wake up and find themselves alone." Her suggestions that "It's OK for babies to sleep alone, you should sleep in your own comfortable bed," fell on deaf ears.

During a short period when little Kimmy was suffering from night terrors, she would always get to her daughter's room to find him already there comforting the sobbing little girl with a drink of water and a soothing voice. Yet he never got between her and her children, but always tried to reinforce her and her husband's bond with their kids.

Anne reached out and took Rufus, cradling him in her hands like a small kitten. Looking up, she heard Yoriko simply say, "Close your eyes, relax, and follow Rufus."

_"Honey, go to the dance. Study a spin that's not tied to electrons. Try a degree of freedom that's not defined by the Dirac equation."_

_"Mother, I am not interested in juvenile, fifth-grade mating rituals," Justine Flanner had no time for such silliness. There was a fascinating universe out there, and so much of it was unknown. She knew that she was destined to fight the unknown, to increase the beauty that scientists like her would uncover and show the world. She had no time for stupid juvenile mixers. But tonight, the twinkle in her mother's eyes foretold her doom._

_"Mike will be there," her Mom pointed out._

_"Mike's not a dancer," the ten-year-old genius replied, her resistance weakening at the thought of the large, dark-haired young man._

_"Honey, I bet he'd let you teach him," no equation Justine knew could protect her when Mom was in 'reasonable' mode. To be fair, this was her own fault. She had agreed when her parents insisted she take up some physical activity; it was only logical since a healthy body would better support a healthy mind. She had taken up dancing since jogging would have put her outside in the cold and the rain. While she didn't find dancing to be very intellectually stimulating, she did learn to dance. And that night, she found that Mike was the only dance partner she would ever need._

_As she predicted, the fifth-grade dance had been childish, noisy, and generally miserable. Mike rescued her by sneaking her two blocks down the street to the planetarium. The staff all knew Justine and let them in; there was no show that night, but they were testing a new presentation. Under a sky of whirling planets and stars, she showed an overly large young man some dance steps._

_Tonight, just like that night long ago, Justine found herself standing in near total darkness on a small platform surrounded by theater seats that reclined and faced away from the stage. Tonight, she was taller, but while many would say that her young man was still ridiculously large in comparison to her sight stature, she felt that she fit in his arms with precision to two decimal places...it would have been three if she had worn heels._

_"How did they know that my happy place is in your arms?" Mike gathered her up and swayed back and forth. It was more of a standing cuddle than a dance step, but it was very romantic._

_"I thought a happy place is supposed to be a physical location, like a beach or a park bench or something like that," Justine murmured._

_"Nah, this works. Besides, we fit together even better here," Mike demonstrated by pulling her into a close embrace suitable for tango and danced a few steps._

_Pulling her closer, he slowly kissed her and in a soft, rumbling murmur that she felt as well as heard, he said,_

_"You are my happy place."_

_Ron took the tray from the counter, and since it was a bright sunny day, stepped out and walked to one of the outdoor tables. Looking around, he found himself alone, no other customers, no Rufus, no KP. Odd, he definitely had enough desserts for four. Plus__,__ a pair of crunchy Supreme beef tacos, just enough to fill in the cracks left over from dinner._

_"Well, I guess it's just me and you, my spicy, beefy beauty," he murmured, picking up a taco and taking a large bite of crunchy beefy taco goodness with a small groan of pleasure._

_"Really, Ron?" a faint but familiar voice spoke into his left ear. Turning his head, he saw a small, ghostly image of Kimberly sitting on his shoulder._

_"Should I leave so the two of you can have some private time?" the tiny Shoulder-Kimberly was laughing._

_"KP? Oh no!" the blonde started to panic, "You're an angel!? I screwed up somehow, and you got killed!"_

_"Calm down, Ronnie, I'm not sure what I am, but I'm def not an angel, and I'm pretty sure I'm not dead - you're in my body remember?"_

_"Maybe we're both dead!? This could be heaven…"_

_"Ronnie, get a grip if this is heaven, where is your Z-Box game system?" Shoulder-Kimberly grinned, after all, it was a perfect observation._

_"Oh no, if this isn't heaven, it's… NOOOOOOOOO!"_

_Shoulder-Kimberly walked over, grabbing her panicked friend's collar and giving him a shake, growled, "Ronnie, really. Get. A. Grip."_

_Kim pulled a spare sweatshirt out of Ron's mission pack and rolled it up to make a pillow. Laying down on a blanket under the tree that grew in a slight depression in what her uncle Slim called his "East Forty," she looked up at the clouds thinking that cloud watching was more fun with Ronnie around._

_"That one looks like a hot dog with marshmallows," a faint, but quite real voice said, "and that one is the Ferris wheel that I need to stay off of after eating five or six of the hot dogs…"_

_Looking to the side, she saw the faint, tiny image of her best friend laying on her shoulder looking up at the clouds._

_'OK, this is an eight-point two on the weirdness scale,' she thought. "Is my happy place this spot under the tree, or is it here with my Ronnie?" she wondered aloud._

_"Can it be both?" Shoulder-Ronald asked._

_"I think that maybe this place is my happy place and having you here makes it a little happier?"_

_"OK. I'll buy that. Why are we in your happy place, and why am I translucent and pocket-sized?"_

_"Yoriko is doing some sort of meditation training, and here we are."_

_Shoulder-Ronald was about to ask about something else, but that thought was lost as the ground opened up and they fell into darkness._

_Anne looked around but saw nothing but darkness. Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out a penlight flashlight. Turning it on, the surgeon found herself in a large earthen tunnel with a naked molerat the size of a hippopotamus. Or maybe she had shrunk to the size of a small mouse. 'Worry about that later,' she told herself. _

_"Hi, Rufus," she spoke out loud, "I'm supposed to follow you. Unless you have a better idea, can you take me to Kimmy?"_

_The naked molerat flattened itself against the floor of the tunnel._

_"Hop on," a deep bass voice rumbled._

_Clambering on top was a bit of a struggle, and she held on by grabbing onto loose skin. They lumbered down the tunnel, the molerat giving her a remarkably smooth ride. Stopping at a wide spot in a short side-tunnel, they saw the ceiling collapse and then,_

_"Mom?!"_

_"Kimmy!?," sliding off Rufus and hugging her daughter, she was surprised to hear,_

_"Hi, Mrs. Dr. P!"_

_Pushing Kimmy back to hold her at arm's length, she stared at the miniature Ronald and asked,_

_"Do you two do this all the time on your missions?"_

_"No, Mom, this is the first time anything like this has happened."_

_She started to ask about Shoulder-Ronald when there was a shattering noise, more dirt fell from the ceiling, and a bright light came through an opening made by Rufus in the tunnel wall. Following him through the hole, both women had a brief bout of vertigo, and when it stopped, they found themselves in the back of a Bueno Nacho by the restrooms. To the left was a door with a silhouette of a man and the label 'Caballeros' and on the right was the silhouette of a woman and the label 'Señoras.' In the middle was a small door with a silhouette of a rodent and the label 'Rata Topo Desnuda.'_

_Rufus ran through the dining room and started scrabbling at the door to get out._

_Kimberly ran to the door, opening it,_

_"Ronnie?"_

_"Hi KP, Mrs. Dr. P, want a Choco Taco? I seem to have extra ones…"_

Back in the basement, Hiero watched as his white Ninja checked their students and the Mom.

"Is everything OK?" he asked.

"Of course. One does not need to be imbued with the MMP for mystical communications to occur. You just need an MMP battery nearby to power the connection. Ron and Rufus perform that function in this exercise. As soon as they chat a bit longer, eat their," here she closed her eyes and focused hard, "chocolate chip ice cream tacos, the connection will break, and they will be physically and mystically the same as before they started the exercise. Later, I will misdirect them to suggest that this is due to the brain switch accident plus a little Ninja hocus-pocus."

"You are going to tell Ronald the truth?"

"Of course. I can't train him without telling him the truth about these things. We haven't burdened either one with things that they must keep secret. Yet. But I have asked Wendy and Subira to lead that discussion. You should attend. Right now, I am not sure that we can tell Kimberly everything. Anne-Sensei should be told some things."

"What about Justine and Mike?"

"I'll talk to them and see what happened to them. I couldn't connect, but I really think that their "happy place" is in each other's arms. That's so romantic." Yoriko sighed and smiled at the pair whose bodies might be physically mismatched, but it was clear that their hearts were perfect pieces to a puzzle…

"That's not possible!" protested Hiero.

"I didn't tell them what a 'happy place' was, they decided that all on their own. I want to introduce them to Wendy and Subira as potential Ninja candidates for the temple."

"Hiero-san?" Justine's voice interrupted the conversation.

"Yes, Justine-kun?"

"I call bullshit on the hot water tub being available for mental energy absorption."

"Sōdesu ka?"

"Is that so," said Mike quietly to the blond genius that he had pulled into his lap.

"Mike's an anime fan," Justine said in response to Hiero's raised eyebrow.

"I'm guessing that this tub has eight-hundred gallons of water and the human body generates about 100 watts of heat, " she continued, "I'd have to check some constants, but the human body just can't generate enough energy to need an energy buffer that big. Unless," she looked thoughtful, "mystical energy is a form of dark energy…" She looked thoughtful, "Do we have a resident expert on mystical energy?"

She followed Hiero's gaze to Yoriko. 'Really? A Ninja Nanny is the best they have?' she thought.

"I will see about getting clearance to tell you what I know and show you the scrolls," Yoriko simply said.

"I hold a Q clearance with the DOE if that helps," the genius pointed out.

"I fear that we don't deal with Department of Energy scientists, Justine-sensei," Yoriko figured that it was time to pull out the sensei honorific for this one.

"Well, whatever," Justine stood up and looked around.

"You know, I've never had a Japanese bath," the young blonde genius noted as if she was referring to an ice cream flavor. "So, I just need to go over to one of those shower stations, get clean and, grab a ridiculously small towel and then come hop naked in a hot tub?"

"That's the procedure. You only need to wash your hair if you plan on dipping it in the tub. We are very informal here," Yoriko replied as Anne walked up.

"Is mixed bathing allowed?"

"The kids all bathed in the same tub until body modesty kicked in," Anne pointed out. "Now we generally make one a guy's tub and the other a girl's tub. The smaller tub in the middle is the cold tub. Not refrigerated, but it will feel cold after being in the 102° F. hot tubs. Our custom is to bathe naked, but if you want, we can get you a large towel to wrap around your body. The rule is that you may not be able to avoid seeing someone's nudity, and that's OK, but you must not stare at anyone," Anne pointed out then mentioned one last safety rule,

"The tiles you are sitting on will vibrate and blink when you have been sitting for more than 12 minutes. You must get up and sit on the edge of the tub for at least two minutes to cool off. Fail to do that will cause you to be banished to the cold tub for the rest of the day."

"OK, how about for tonight, this tub is the old people and Ninja Tub, and the one over there is the Teen Tub. Come on, Mike. I'll scrub your back," Justine pulled her headband loose and grabbed his hand.

" Justine, your parents…' Anne started.

"Mrs. Dr. P, our parents know that we are under the close supervision of parents and trained Nannies that would not allow improper behavior. Ron! Kim! Get your butts over here, we need to have a BPS meeting,"

Mike recognized Justine's 'take no prisoners mode,' a mode designed to run over resistance long enough to get what she wanted. She had been pushing for more intimacy between them but naked bathing tonight with Kim and Ron was faster than he was willing to go. Maybe wrapping a towel around himself would be acceptable.

Mr. Dr. P dropped by while the teens were showering to increase the mineral content of their tub and glare at Ronald along with a warning to be on his best behavior. The glare was strange, it was as if he couldn't figure out which body contained the real Ron, so both Kim and Ron got a piece of it. But the mineral laden, nearly opaque water provided privacy for the bathers as long as they were in the water.

* * *

"…so Yoriko really is the local expert on this MMP energy stuff?" Justine was torn between disgust that the resources were so slim and excitement that the field was so new and apparently unexplored.

"Apparently so," said Kim, "Ron was by himself on that mission, I had to be at my cousin Larry's. This was the first I've heard that he was exposed to anything worse than airline food…" she glared at her best friend. Or she would have. Of the four in the tub, only Mike had his eyes open. The other three were soaking in the hot water with their eyes closed. Justine found it was too confusing to talk to Kim and Ron and seeing the wrong person speak. Both Kim and Ron found looking at their bodies using the other's eyes was distracting. Their self-images needed an update.

Mike had been paying little attention to the discussion of energies, mystical, dark, or otherwise. He was holding a totally naked Justine on the towel wrapped around his lap, letting his hand explore the parts he could reach. He knew that if she had any problems with his roaming digits, she would not be bashful about letting him know immediately. He kept his groping to mostly polite areas of her body.

"Sorry, KP, I just got back home when you had to handle the Bebe's, then we had to track down the purloined prize pigs at the county fair. By then you had stopped meeting me for morning runs in favor of hitting the weight room with Paul," the small sneer in Ron's voice spoke of his opinion of that musclebound creep. Rufus, from his perch on the small towel folded up on Kimberly's body's head, growled in agreement.

"Since you were running in the morning with Crystal and Jessica, I am surprised you missed me!" snarked Kim.

"Excuse me, please!" Yoriko was sitting on the side of the cold tub facing the teens. "I invited Crystal to morning runs and I decided to not tell Kimberly about the MMP and in fact, there is much that I have not told Ronald. We are about to reach out to our home school in Japan for guidance and to get agreement on our current plans. I am guessing this will happen within two weeks. We need both of you there, you will get answers to questions that we have refused to answer before."

"What about us?" Justine spoke in a hesitant, worried voice.

"Had I realized how much you would have guessed, Justine-sensei, I would not have included you in tonight's exercise."

"Are we in trouble?"

"No, in fact, I want to invite you to meet with our Headmistress, Wendy-sensei and her assistant Subira-sensei. You may wish to become our students or at the very least become associates with our home school."

A dull rumbling was heard, almost felt.

"I think a brainloaf sandwich is calling my name," Mike smiled in apology.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, I've been sitting here talking energy and ignoring you!" 'Some genius I am, get my shy BF in a hot tub and waste time finding out that Kim and Ron are clueless about this new energy source!', Justine thought.

"That's OK. Want me to make you anything?" Mike lifted her off of his lap then got up on his knees to adjust the towel so it wouldn't side off when he stood up. He was large enough that he had to sit on the tub floor and lean back on the seat to be deep enough for the water to come up to his shoulders. Justine took advantage of that to give him a wet, naked hug and kiss - at least to the extent that being in a room with other people would allow.

"Yogurt and fruit, maybe?"

When he hesitated to climb out, Ron spoke up, "Mike, it's considered polite to drip water on the floor and not back into the tub."

"OK," the gentle giant dripped his way over to a shower area to rinse off the minerals.

* * *

"KP? KP? Are you sleeping?"

Kimberly turned their head to see Shoulder-Ron glowing softly in the dark.

"No, in fact, I'm not even sleepy for some reason." Given that it had been a busy evening, they had still managed to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

"Good, there are some things I want to show you. First, take your hands and feel Ronald's abdomen."

"What? I can't feel up my best friend!"

"No! Well, yes, of course, you can, you are wearing his body, but that's not what I meant. Check out his abdominal muscles."

"Ooh, Ronnie's getting a bit of a six pack!" Kim nearly purred.

"Go over to the mirror in your closet, let me give you a tour of the results of his early morning workouts…"

The redhead got up, walked into her walk-in closet, closed the door, turned on the light, and pulled off the nightshirt she had put on his body before laying down. Standing in front of the full-length mirror, she said.

'Whoa, nice guns there, Ronnie!' she thought, flexing his arms then turning to admire a nice set of glutes. 'Just how much has he been working out when nobody's looking?"

"What are you exactly? A remnant of Ronnie's subconscious?"

"No idea. Maybe your Mom could figure it out. I seem to be connected to several parts of Ronnie's mind and psyche; I'm also an independent advocate of sorts. I am attached to Ronnie, so once get your body back, you will only be able to talk to your own advocate."

"I have a Shoulder-advocate too? Wait! Is it giving him a tour of my body? That bastard is probably feeling me up right now!"

"That's the spirit! Grab that box of tissues and that bottle of lotion and let me give you the grand tour…"

* * *

"Ronnie? Ronnie? Are you sleeping?"

He turned their head to see a Shoulder-Kimberly softly glowing in the dark.

"No, in fact, I'm not even sleepy for some reason."

"Good, there are some things I want to show you…"

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

ST103, CB, and Daccu spent a lot of time helping me with plot and such. Thanks, guys!


	8. Mind Games Part 2

**Finite Middletons (Middleton High School)**

Anne Possible loved breakfast with a full crew. This morning she had her kids, plus Ron and Rufus, and Justine and Mike. With Yoriko and Hiero taking care of eggs, pancakes and such, Anne was able to experiment with chicken-fried slices of leftover brainloaf, which were quickly approved by Ron, Rufus, and Mike. As she puttered around the cooking area, she observed the collection of family and friends

Tim and Justine were talking about the astronomical observation from last night where they watched the collision of a pair of dwarf stars. The observations done by scientists all over the world would be used to increase knowledge of gravity waves. James expressed some disappointment; he had been hoping that some quality of gravity traveled faster than light. Jim, Mike, and Rufus were talking about an upcoming Steel Toe/Pain King match. Yoriko seemed a little clingy with Hiero, Anne swore to herself to watch that pair closely.

Kim and Ron weren't looking at each other in the eye at first. When Anne asked them how they were doing, they both said 'fine'; that other than having the wrong body, nothing was weird. Something had happened last night, they were fine before bed, and with the long family history of Japanese baths, seeing the other's body naked should have been no big deal. As soon as they left for school, Anne was on the phone checking the availabilities of Middleton General's MRI and CAT Scan equipment. She knew the pair and didn't believe 'fine' for a second.

Kim and Ron had a quick huddle before school. To avoid personal confusion, they agreed to refer to each other by their 'mind-name' not their 'body-name.' So, Ron, in Kim's body, would be called 'Ron' and Kim in Ron's body would be called 'Kim.' Their shoulder-selves were renamed to Shim and Shon. (**Sh**oulder-K**im**berly and **Sh**oulder-R**on**ald) After a night's sleep and breakfast, Shim and Shon were still there.

**Finite Middletons (Middleton High School, Lunch break)**

"And then shift your weight from your left foot to your right foot and hit a heel stretch at the toe," Kim was showing Ron diagrams of the routine they would be performing that afternoon at the competition, "That's the routine, Ronnie, you got it?"

"Got it, KP."

"So, you can do it?" Kim was grasping at straws.

"No way, sorry."

"Dammit, Ronnie!"

"Hold up there a minute, Kimberly," Shim came to his defense, "It's not Ron's fault that he can't replace you at the drop of a hat. We didn't even want him to try out for cheerleading. You go contact Wade and see if he's located the Brain Swap Machine and then talk to the judges and see if Middleton can go last. That might give us time to get switched before we compete. I'll run Ronnie through the routine again."

"OK, replied Kim. Seeing no point in arguing with herself, she told Ron the plan and headed out of the gym.

Rufus restarted the music, and Ron managed to get through the routine without falling on his face.

"Shim, I think I'm getting the hang of this! And I dig this wardrobe. The breeze is refreshing." Ron reached down and swished his skirt. Looking to his shoulder, he saw Shim had her face in her hands."

"I'm thinking that the best thing I can do for the team is to break your leg, Ronnie," the 'Shoulder-Angel' said glumly.

"Hey! You can't do that!"

"Well actually, I'd be breaking my own leg…"

"NO!"

"Well let's go get some lunchage, maybe Wade will come through…"

"Are you sure you are Kimberly? The word is snackage, not lunchage. But some food will be good."

Rufus scrambled up on Ron, and since his dress had no pockets, he nestled under the full mane of red hair.

**Finite Middletons (D-Hall)**

Kim found her progress halted by a large boy who grabbed the front of her shirt and nearly lifted her body off the floor.

"Hold it, Stoppable. You know, you can't come this way," he said.

"Yeah, D-hall's been declared a loser-free zone," laughed a short boy who appeared to be a sidekick of the giant bully.

"Say, you know, I think you're forgetting something? My money," said the bully.

"Yeah, money," snickered the sidekick.

"What money?" Kim asked, 'Shon! What the hell is this? Why are you letting these bullies pick on you?'

'They're just high school evil, KP. Can't just beat them up for that, I don't want you to be disappointed in me.'

'If they were picking on Tara or Alex, you'd stop them, right?'

'In a heartbeat, KP.'

"Stoppable, who are you talking to? We don't cut slack for the mentally handicapped, so acting crazy ain't gonna help you. In fact, I think we need to remind you how to respect your betters," the bully laughed as he threw who he thought was Ron into the boy's bathroom, then followed him in.

The sidekick stood glaring outside the bathroom door to make sure Ron's 'lesson' wasn't interrupted. He heard crashing and moans of pain, then a toilet flushed, once twice, then a third time. He felt the door open behind him. His smirk disappeared when he was grabbed and pulled inside by their blonde victim.

Crystal and Jessica were taking a shortcut down a strangely deserted D-Hall headed for lunch when they noticed a disheveled Ron Stoppable casually walk out the door of the boys' bathroom. As the door closed, they caught a glimpse of the legs of a large boy extending out from a stall whose toilet had overflowed all over the floor. Another boy was dazed and stuffed in a trash can.

"Ron?! What happened?" Crystal ran over to her running buddy and put her hand on his face turning it, looking for a bruise or cuts. Seeing none, she straightened his shirt.

Startled, Kim asked, 'Shon, why is she touching your face? Do you let strange girls grab you like this?'

'KP,' the miniature phantom replied, 'That's not a strange girl, that's Crystal. Besides, you're running this body, not me.'

"Crystal, I'm fine, it was ah, just a disagreement about … uh, transit fees," Kim replied to her brown-haired teammate.

"Come on, Ron," Crystal grabbed his hand, and started towing him to the cafeteria, "Let's get out of here before any of their friends show up."

Jessica stood at the corner, "The coast is clear, guys,"

**Finite Middletons (Hall in front of the cafeteria)**

Ron was thinking about the potential downsides to shaving his legs and wearing a kilt once he got his body back when he was pounced on.

**Reviewer comment:** (Kilts are comfortable, of course when it's cold and windy… not so much…ST103) [Yeah, but ya gotta believe that Golf, birthed in Scotland, had to be created in the summer…or they'd have had to play with more than one ball that _wasn__'t_ frozen and hadn't fallen to the fairway…due to exposure in the winter months…CB]

"Hi, Kim!", said an overly-cheerful girl followed by, "Kim, we need you to decide on a font for the cover for the yearbook," said the second of two overly-perky girls running up to him.

'Er...', Ron said, 'Shim, what do I do?'

"You're the only one we trust to make a decision everyone can fall in love with!" the girls continued.

"Kim, are you prepared for tutoring at Middleton middle school next week?" Mrs. Fine asked, walking up.

"Huh?" Ron mumbled looking over at Shim who seemed too flustered to speak.

"Don't forget those banners you promised to paint, Possible. Deadline's Monday!" barked Mr. Pozniak.

"Kim, you **are** gonna do something about your hair and makeup before the regionals, right?" now Bonnie was adding to the chorus of people making demands.

"Kim, what about the font?!"

"Kim, the tutoring!?"

"Possible, the banners!?"

"Kim, come on, let's go," Bonnie said, starting to drag her off.

"WAIT!" Ron shouted.

To the girls, he said, "Girls it's just a font. Pick a nice simple one, as long as you DON'T PICK COMIC SANS it will be fine. Have an art teacher check it out if you want a sanity check."

To Mrs. Fine, he said, "Remind me what subject I am tutoring in?"

"Introduction to Algebra, Kim"

"I should be able to cover it, and if I can't, Ron Stoppable can do it." Ron declared. Lastly, he turned to Mr. Pozniak,

"Mr. Pozniak, I'm sorry, but I'm in the middle of a mission that's going sideways, you'd better have my backup do it."

The grumpy math teacher complained, "I don't have a backup, Possible!"

Ron spoke to the two perky girls who foolishly hadn't left yet, "Britney, Brittany, can you guys get Mr. Pozniak the banners he needs?"

"Not a problem Kim, we'll get on it immediately!" they said before going to the old grump to ask about the banners.

Tara took his other arm and together, she and Bonnie dragged Ron down the hall surrounded by the rest of the bouncing, exuberant MHS cheer squad.

Tara spoke for the team, shouting "Woo! East Side is so history!"

Shim glumly said, "Kimberly is so history."

Middleton was up last, but Wade still had no info on the Brain Swap Machine.

Kim, unnoticed in Ron's body, sat in the bleachers watching her best friend in her body screw up the routine as the crowd murmured and the cheer squad seemed to be waiting for something.

'Take over, Kim, do it. Do it! You're Kim Freaking Possible. You can do anything, even win this tournament in my body!' Shon urged from his perch.

The crowd came to attention when a blonde boy ran onto the floor, knocked the head cheerleader out of the way with a hip bump and restarted the routine.

Kim's performance, even with the lack of practice in Ron's body was electric. The crowd came to their feet as they watched the new boy take the gymnastics they had seen up to a new level. The electricity of his performance spread to the rest of the team. Every move by the team was in perfect synchronization; all their movements sharp and exact.

The crowd gave them a standing ovation. The cheer squad swarmed Kim (Ron's body) and carried them off to the dressing room, Tara and Jessica grabbed Ron (Kim's body) and dragged them along.

In the dressing room, Bonnie was the first to talk,

"Kim, you could have told us what you were doing. It was a whack plan, but we might have tried it… Maybe."

"My plan?" Ron (Kim's body) asked.

"No, I said Kim," the brunette said staring at Kim (Ron's body), "I mean really, we knew something was up when he told off a bunch of your whiners in the hall, and then in the dressing room, Jess had to do his makeup and he kept his eyes closed anytime that anyone was less than fully dressed. Then you cleaned house on the bullies in D-Hall. Personally, I think you'd be better off staying switched if it wasn't so gorchy. Maybe you could find a nicer body to use?"

"Nicer body? Are you crazy?" said Crystal, "Did you see the height he was getting on his flips? That's sheer core and leg strength that he's been getting running bleachers!"

"So, Kim, this body swapping gizmo - can we use it? I think that it could come in handy sometimes…" Hope said.

Beep Beep Be Beep!

"Go, Wade!"

"Kim, I got him! Your ride will be out front in five!"

**Finite Middletons (Timeshare lair complex)**

Yoriko pulled up in the Stoppable's van to the edge of the crowd of police, fire and military equipment recovery personnel. Crystal and Jessica hopped out and jogged over to where Kim was talking to some military types, Ron at her side. The fire was out, and the military was loading some giant death-ray-looking gizmo on a flatbed trailer.

"Come on, Ron, we got ice and ibuprofen in the van," Crystal called out. Each girl grabbed an arm and started carrying off the young man who could now barely walk.

"Hey K. We're taking your partner to put ice on him," said Jessica. When Kim looked puzzled, she continued, "You ended that routine with a full split. Your boy is going to be a hurting puppy for a couple of days…"

"Oh, no," said Kim, "I didn't warm him up! Did I pull his hamstring?"

"Nah, I think the problem is that you didn't put on a cup," said Crystal, "Boxers weren't appropriate. I thought you had brothers?"

"I do but…" Kim started to follow when a guy in a uniform stopped her.

"Just a moment of your time, Ms. Possible," A pair of military officers pulled her off to the side.

**Finite Middletons (Monday, cafeteria)**

"Thanks for taking care of Ron for me the other night, those idiot military guys wanted to know about how the Neutronalizer performed; I had no idea about that, I just saw Shego push a button, and then everything went dark when the fuses blew. Total waste of time."

"Not a problem Kim, we ran into Yoriko after school, and she asked if Crystal wanted to go with her to pick you guys up, so I tagged along," Jessica explained.

Kim, Crystal, Jessica, and Justine sat at a lunch table picking at cheese pizza when Jessica continued,

"Where are Ron and Rufus anyway? Are his legs still hurting him?"

"Or any other parts?" Crystal grimaced thinking of a place where a guy would not want to be bruised.

"They went to the middle school. Ron sort of redid my calendar while he was me. He actually took over my tutoring session this morning. He was moving without complaints this morning when we walked to school, so I suppose he's doing OK. Ron isn't one to suffer in silence. Usually."

"We helped him down to the baths in your basement. Your Mom and Hiero wanted him to do a cold soak for a while. Those Japanese baths are amazing! We should have a cheer squad meeting in the hot tubs sometime."

"They are really nice. We had a soak the other night, it was great. Mike was too shy and kept a towel wrapped around him. Pity," claimed Justine.

"A towel? Who was 'we'?" Jessica asked.

"Me, Kim, Mike, and Ron. Yoriko was in the cold tub in the middle. They have small towels for "modesty," but it's basically naked," Justine replied.

"So, Kim, does Ron's upper body match his abs?" Crystal innocently asked.

"How do you know what Ron's abs look like?" asked the redhead who was trying not to be tweaked.

"He uses the tail of his tee shirt to wipe the sweat off his face when we're out running. You don't look at him in the tubs? Some sort of privacy thing?"

"Well, no, I don't really look at him in the baths. It's not polite. But I can tell you his upper body is toned. You saw me using his body in the tournament, right? I'm thinking we are going to regret not grabbing him for cheer squad…"

**Finite Middletons (Possible basement)**

Yoriko twisted the ceramic filter element, a cylinder a foot thick and three feet long, reinserted it and set the filter system to "clean." The system rumbled as steam was run backward through the filter to flush out contaminants. Close by, Hiero used a spray bottle of bleach solution and brushes to scrub the inside of the tub.

"We need to talk about children," Yoriko started with a growing smile on her face, "**Otousan**…"

Hiero came to a dead halt.

"But we have been careful, at least two forms of birth control and we have been abstinent since the evening before we were in England. Are you sure?"

"I am not sure, but the little bit of MMP I still have gives me the ability to know my body in considerable detail. It is very early. A pregnancy test won't be reliable until next week at the earliest. But I can feel a spark of reflected MMP."

"Is it mine?" Hiero asked. Unfortunately, his brain wasn't firing on all cylinders, and his question was really about whether his contribution was needed at all due to the MMP.

"You are the only man I have had relations with!" Yoriko burst into tears, "I don't even know if it is mine! The MMP prophecy scrolls are such a rat's nest of contradictory and incomplete information that I just don't know! I have been praying at night that this is the Han because then Mineko and Taro won't have to die to create an orphan to put in the Stoppable home!"

Hiero rushed over and scooped up the young woman who was now sobbing, wrapping her tightly in his arms.

"Yori, it will be OK. I will be here by your side no matter what. The prophecy can't have you, do you understand me?! One way or another, this child, will have you and I as loving parents, with Ronald and Kimberly as brother and sister, and the Possibles and Stoppables as extended family."

**A/N** My source for Japanese, **says: **A Japanese woman wouldn't use a diminutive term for father with the father of her children when she's talking directly to him the way we would in English. Her choices are pretty much just "Otousan" ("Father") or "Anata" (which literally is "you" but between a couple, it's the equivalent of "dear" or "darling"...nothing romantic about being called "Hey you" if you ask me...)

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

ST103, CB, and Daccu have spent a lot of time helping me with plot and such. Thanks, guys!


	9. The New Yamanouchi, Kung Phoey Klub

**Finite Middletons (New Temple on "Back Side" of Mount Middleton)**

Wendy Wang focused on the shaft of the softly glowing blue yari, feeling the straight bladed spear lengthen and twist. In her previous life, she was Wanda Wang, Senior Ninja of Team Cobra, a connoisseur of bars with tasty, _potent_, alcoholic beverages and the occasional bar fight, especially in support of her good friends in Team Panther. Now having traveled over a decade into the past and going by the name of Wendy Wang, she was a reluctant, but dedicated 'Mistress Sensei' of this new Yamanouchi temple publicly known as Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment.

She was by no means the "Chosen One." She had no access to the Mystical Monkey Power. But Sun Wukong, the Monkey King himself, had commanded the Lotus Blade to obey her commands to the extent required to create the tools she needed to carve the new Temple into the little visited "backside" of Mount Middleton. He did this because the spirit of Yamanouchi must survive, and so he charged her with the duty to make it happen.

But one woman, even with the aid of the Mystical Lotus Blade can't just drop into the United States and just start carving up the ignored and undeveloped back-half of a mountain to build an academy to mirror the Temple at Yamanouchi. First, there was money to gather, land to purchase, permits, and other legal paperwork to file, and people like lawyers and craftsmen to find. All this must be done with utmost stealth, because in this point in time, the original Yamanouchi had not been destroyed and many of its beloved associates were still alive, just a decade or so younger than Wendy's memories insisted. Since construction on this scale could not be kept hidden, other explanations for why such work was being done had to be presented.

The plants added to their new property by their groundskeepers along with young cherry trees were varieties of flowers and shrubberies loved by bees and butterflies. Partly as an "in your face" to fate (i.e., the butterfly effect) but mainly because Wendy's 'second,' Subira Chen née Suzie Chin, liked butterflies. Fortunately, the time stream was not as delicate as fiction writers would have you believe.

The Lotus Blade was a time-singular object. Unlike humans or conventional materials like gold bars, the Lotus Blade could not travel forward or back to a time where it already existed. Wendy was effectively 'secretly borrowing' the blade by calling it for short periods from its home in the Japanese Temple, then bidding it to return before it was missed. In this, the time zone difference between Yamanouchi and Colorado proved most beneficial.

She was currently drilling a hole into the solid rock of the mountain. Two months ago, they had paid a professor, and a graduate student from the Colorado School of Mines for the design of artificial hot springs, and this was the fourth hole she had bored. The first three were only a few hundred feet deep and had struck water. Mount Middleton wasn't overly active with magma flows, but this hole was approaching a thousand feet deep, and she had just struck a layer of hot rock. After widening the blade to make a better chamber for heating water and carving the hole a little deeper, she snapped the Lotus Blade back into a more traditional wakizashi shape and stepped back.

The second reason for the design was to provide a source of hot water for some decent hot springs at the Temple. The main reason was that the professor was a graduate of Yamanouchi - the original in Japan. It was time to unite the Temples.

"Thank you for all your help for my benefit, Blade-san," she said, walking outside and holding the wakizashi upright. She swore that she could feel mirth flowing off the blade and she flinched inwardly at the pun that its wits were sharp. It made sense that if it had any sentience at all, it had to be dull and boring beyond belief to lay around in a silk lined box all day. The wakizashi turned into a giant arrow and shot up into the sky and disappeared.

"Sensei," Subira Chen walked up a few minutes later, escorting an older man dressed in denim jeans and a tan khaki jacket. "Professor Granite is here as you asked."

"Professor," Wendy greeted the man, returning his bow. It was still odd to her to be the senior sensei in, well, any situation and thus be the one that returns a bow. "Have you seen enough of the temple to know who we truly are?"

"Yes, it is amazing stonework. No one that sees it can deny that it is the result of unique stone cutting tools. Am I correct that the Lotus Blade was used in the form of a bladed weapon?"

"Yes, and you would not be the first to point out that if can transform into tools more appropriate to working stone," the woman sighed, "But I do not know how to use a hammer and chisel and the Lotus Blade slices granite easier than an ordinary knife cuts cheese. The Blade was not all that helpful as a teacher of stone masons."

Laughing out loud at herself, she continued, "Rest assured, the next time I am charged with constructing a temple, I will enroll in your university for stone working courses."

Becoming serious once again, she asked, "Have you reported all this to Master Sensei?"

"I am loyal to my Master Sensei and my old school at Yamanouchi." he replied, "My reports have been complete and accurate. The old man stood straight and defiant, ready to accept whatever this upstart Sensei chose to deliver to him - whether thanks or punishment.

"We understand duty and loyalty. It is past time for us to talk to our old school," Wendy looked at the Temple that she, along with many craftsmen, had constructed in a handful of years. She wondered how Lord Toshimiru, the original Master Sensei had felt after his Temple was ready for people.

Smiling warmly, she said, "Please send word to Master Sensei that we wish to meet him at the meditation meadow, at a time to be mutually agreed upon."

"As you wish Mistress Sensei. Will that be all?"

"Yes, Professor," replied the Headmistress of a Ninja school that was now complete with everything except students, "No matter what happens, you have my gratitude for your assistance and my admiration for your loyalty to our beloved Yamanouchi." Wendy and Subira gave bows of respect to the professor.

"Ah, Mistress Sensei," the professor spoke hesitantly," the basic construction of the temple is solid, the simple and straightforward stonework you have done should stand several hundred years with ease. You should be proud. It would be my honor and the honor of my senior students if we could design the, uh, embellishments. decorations and in general, the small details that will make this structure a proper home for the soul of a Yamanouchi Ninja. If you would allow us to help you, I would count it as one of the major accomplishments in my life. After all **a Yamanouchi Ninja may be many things, but she is never alone**."

The professor was startled when the Headmistress of this new temple took two steps forward and threw her arms around him in a brief hug.

"Thank you, in my haste and arrogance, I had forgotten that. Perhaps we should carve it over the door as a reminder?"

"Give me a call when you have initial sketches and we will meet over lunch with you and your students." Subira also gave the older man a brief hug.

As the man bowed and walked away, she stepped up consulting her clipboard,

"We have a meeting with Steve Barkin of Middleton High School in an hour." Looking at the steamy water starting to fill the pools, she added, "Perhaps when we return, the hot springs will be ready for testing?"

Looking to see how dusty her clothes looked, Mistress Sensei brushed off her pants and deciding that she was presentable, said,

"I'm ready, let me grab my bag, and we can go. Can't we get Stoppable-san to change the name?"

Subira laughed, "Well, the Kung Phooey Klub isn't a normal name, but I think that was his intent."

**Finite Middletons (Middleton High - Hallway outside the main office)**

"Hey Ron, missed you in study hall. Where were you?"

"Uh, I was late getting back from Middleton Middle School, don't you have cheer practice right now?"

"No, several of the squad are off doing driving tests, so we canceled it. You did the tutoring session? I talked to Mrs. Fine this morning, and she said that it was covered. Thanks!" the redhead smiled in gratitude, "I kind of got over-committed on volunteering for stuff."

"Hey! I learned that it's no piece of cake being you. You really gotta practice saying 'No' every once in a while."

"Yeah, I know, but that's hard for me to do sometimes. Sorry for calling you a slacker the other day, you've really been working out hard, and it shows. Well, under the baggy clothes you wear, that is. How's the secret club coming along?"

Ron rubbed the back of his neck, decided her comment about how his fitness shows 'under his clothes' was something he didn't want to explore right now. The new club seemed a safe topic, "Well, it's not really a secret, I've been working out the details, getting sponsors, doing paperwork and you've been super busy, so I didn't want to bother you with it."

"I've definitely got to tell people, 'No' if it's keeping me from helping you." Kim started to protest.

"Ohayou gozaimasu Ronald-kun," Wendy Wu walked up to the pair with Subira Chen walking beside her. "Is Barkin-Sensei's office in here? Are you ready? Kimberly-kun, are you coming to this meeting?"

"Mistress Sensei," the redhead gave a little bow. "I don't think so," she gave her best friend her best glare. "It seems I wasn't invited."

"I'm sure that was just an oversight," Subira waved the matter off as inconsequential, "Kimberly-kun, please attend with us if you have the time. Ronald-kun, please show us to Barkin-Sensei's office."

Ron led them all into the office.

"Possible, Stoppable," Barkin greeted his two students as he rose to his feet to be introduced to the two women who accompanied them.

"Mr. Barkin," Ron said, "let me introduce you to Wendy Wu-sensei and Subira Chen-sensei. Wu-sensei is the Headmistress of the new martial arts academy that she just built in Middleton and Chen-sensei is her deputy and senior assistant. Mistress Sensei, Chen-sensei, let me present Mr. Steve Barkin, senior administrator of this school. Mr. Barkin is trained in many fields of academia and is often found substituting for teachers who are unable to teach classes."

The big teacher surprised the others by offering polite bows, as opposed to the western handshakes. The gruff and no-nonsense teacher could be surprisingly cordial when he saw fit.

"Before we start, do I need to summarize the new club's goals or was the write-up sufficient?" Ronald said as everyone else had a seat at the table.

"I would like to hear a summary, please, Ronnie, I did not have a chance to read your summary," said Kim in an amazingly snark-free tone of voice.

Ron walked to the whiteboard and started writing main points as he talked,

"This club has four objectives," he began,

"First, the club will encourage physical development, the core of the club will be about martial arts. The one subject thing that all members must study and practice is Tai Chi."

"Second, we will encourage mental development and discipline, again, martial arts will be useful for this."

"Third, we will provide our members with the opportunity for public service. We are setting up a process so our members can sign up to provide tutoring and mentoring in the middle schools during their before and after programs."

"Last. We will wrap this club up in a philosophy that anyone will be welcome to join and nobody will be made to feel that their ideas are stupid." Looking directly at Kim, he finished by saying, "People sometimes do have stupid ideas, but we will encourage people to take risks in trying new things and support them if they fail. I currently have Mrs. Savage as our main faculty adviser. The Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment is offering to provide one or two part-time coaches and sponsor the team financially for tournaments and other things."

"Ronald-kun?" Wendy Wu had a question, "Don't you think that calling this the 'Kung Phooey Klub' is a bit too silly?"

"But that silly name is important!" Ron ignored the choked snorting sound from his best friend, walked over to the table and leaned on it, "This club is not a food-chain club! This is not like the sports teams where only the best athletes are welcome. It's not like the Cheer Squad that only takes the prettiest, most talented gymnasts. This is a club where a total geek can come and learn a little Tai Chi, watch Kung Fu movies or Anime with others, maybe do some public service helping middle schools with after-school programs; and maybe do it all right next to a jock, a hottie or a mathelete. Members might even help start D&D clubs in, before and aftercare. Because no one in the club is going to say, 'You can't do it because your idea is stupid, people will laugh at you.' Instead, I want a club where people will help make your idea work. Or help you find an alternative idea that will work."

"Stoppable, your club isn't going to stop the rest of the school from laughing at some people," Barkin pointed out.

"No sir, we can't. But we can support the people who are being laughed at, so getting laughed at won't hurt as bad. When the club expands to include popular people, they can help the general school population be more tolerant by example."

"What about students with disabilities? You claim that all members must study Tai Chi." Barkin asked.

"I have seen classes taught to the elderly who remain seated during the class," Subira pointed out, "I am confident that we can adapt our Tai Chi instruction to any student that is able to attend classes here."

"Possible," said Mr. Barkin, "You really think you can make this work? An anti-food-chain club?"

"This is the first I've heard of the club, sir," Kimberly replied, "This is Ronnie's idea. Not mine," she looked at her best friend, "I don't know if it will work, but I think this school should give him a chance to try it. I will provide support whenever I can.

"Stoppable," Barkin declared after thinking a moment, "good job on coming up with the 'Kung Phooey Klub." I'm sure the school board will approve it. I expect no longer than a month to draw up the official paperwork for allowing students to work with middle schools and add it to the school's insurance so we can make it official. Is there any special equipment that needs to be ordered?"

"At the start, there really isn't a lot of equipment required," Subira pondered, "We won't be teaching any throws in the beginning, no mats are needed, Tai Chi does have a sword, stick, and war-fan forms. I think that we will provide that equipment as needed. It will be good to have something flashy for recruitment and exhibitions."

"We can't have students wandering around the halls with martial arts weapons!" Barkin objected.

"Really?" Mistress Sensei's eyes lit up with devilment, "students cannot carry baseball bats or lacrosse sticks?" When Barkin tried to speak, she interrupted him, "We understand, Barkin-sensei, we really do. There will be no club members wandering the hall carrying obvious weapons."

"Ms. Wu, we have a no weapons policy here at Middleton High school. That's 'no weapons' not 'no obvious weapons.'"

"We an work with that restriction. I want to point out that the academy is presently underused. We have plenty of empty classroom space," Mistress Sensei changed the subject, "I would like to explore relieving some of your overcrowded classrooms by moving some of the classes to the academy. We are a thirty-minute bus ride from here. I would propose working with you to allow some students to come to our academy for classes one or two days a week. You, of course, would be in charge of providing teachers and course materials. I'm confident that we can come to an agreement on space rental that would be acceptable to all. You have our contact information if you want to discuss this offer or have any questions."

With that, the meeting quickly wrapped up, and everybody started to leave. As Subira left, she shook Mr. Barkin's hand.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Barkin-sensei," Subira had an evil grin, "By the way, Mistress Sensei knows three ways to disable an attacker with a pair of panties. We will not teach that, of course. We would hate for the school dress code to require students to 'go commando', as I believe you call it."

"I appreciate the restraint, Ms. Chen," he replied dryly. "Possible, could I speak to you for a moment?"

Wanda stopped in the hall and asked Ron, "We are thinking of stopping for something to eat. We hear the Curry Flower has good Indian food, would you and Kimberly like to join us?"

"What about Bueno Nacho?"

"They do not serve beer, and Mistress Sensei likes an Ocho Equis with spicy food. Besides, young ladies like a little variety in where you take them to eat. Pay attention, this will be important to you someday…"

"Cheese?" asked Rufus.

"Of course, Rufus, we are not barbarians," explained Subira, "Indian Cottage Cheese is called paneer. You can get it as cubes in a curry sauce with vegetables, grilled on skewers, served with…"

"Yes, Mr. Barkin?" Kim asked once everyone had left.

"Just wanted to give you a heads up, Possible. Lowerton is adding a school mascot to their cheer squad, the 'Lowerton Lemur.' Just wanted to mention that in case the cheer squad here ever had any interest in adding one. Just a thought…"

"Oh. OK, Mr. Barkin, I'll tell the squad…"

"Oh, and Possible," Mr. Barkin looked a little flustered, "panties?"

"No idea sir, none of the styles of Kung Fu I've studied have a panty form, I know two that make use of a bra…"

"What did Barkin want KP?" Ron was waiting in the hall with Mistress Sensei and Subira Chen.

"Just some info to pass to the cheer squad. No big."

"OK. Mistress Sensei and Chen-sensei have invited us to join them to check out the Indian food at a place called the Curry Flower. Want to come?" he asked.

"Paneer! Curry!" cheered Rufus.

"Sure," she replied, willing to trust the instincts of their naked mole rat epicure. Besides, both Hiero and Yoriko often make Japanese curry dishes at home. Those were tasty and not very spicy at all…

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

ST103, CB73, and Daccu65 have spent a lot of time helping me with plot, editing, and such. Thanks, guys!


	10. New food, maybe a new friend?

**Finite Middletons (The Curry Flower, at a table in the back)**

"OK, little buddy, I surrender," Ron gasped, "You're a tougher rat than I."

The naked molerat chewed and swallowed the current bite of his new favorite cheese dish, Saag Paneer, the spinach and fried cheese cubes in a spicy curry sauce dish. Subira ordered this particular dish with the request of 'extra spicy please' and Rufus had fallen in love with it.

Mistress Sensei had ordered milk for all of them claiming that it would help with the burn. Ron was on his second bite before the burn from the spices caught up to him. Wendy Sensei had seen his panicked expression as he started guzzling his cold milk and moved her beer farther away from the distressed young man. Kimberly, waiting to see her friend's reaction, now knew better and skipped it altogether.

"This is way too spicy for my friend, could we get one without the extra heat, please?" Kimberly asked their waiter, pointing to the dish of fiery naked molerat addiction.

The waiter quickly returned with a new plate of Saag Paneer and without comment also set a small bowl of sour cream with a spoon next to a suffering Ron. He started to remove the original, extra-spicy one but the molerat put its paw on the plate, and he thought he heard a squeaky voice say "Mine," followed by a little growl.

**A/N:**_ I have recently read that some species of Mole Rats are immune to capsaicin, chili, weak hydrochloric acid (pH 3.5), and the chemical that gives wasabi its heat. Pretend that Rufus belongs to this set. Also, personal experience is that sour cream eaten straight up will go a long way to killing the burn._

Mistress Sensei, seeing that her beer was safe as the sour cream extinguished the blond's fire, turned to Kimberly and said, "What do you know about the mission to Lord Montgomery Fiske's estate?"

"I was on the Kimmunicator with Ron for part of it, and I've seen the report Ron filed. Lord Fiske met with Ron and a hologram of me. He quickly became angry, saying that we were trying to stop him from becoming the Master of All Monkeys. He chased Ron, then, during a scuffle, the Jade idols were broken. The loss of the idols caused Lord Fiske to have a mental breakdown of some sort." She looked at her best friend for agreement, but his expression implied that she didn't have the entire story.

Looking around the table, she asked, "What wasn't I told?"

Seeing Mistress Sensei nod approval, Ron said, "When you put the four statues together, they can charge you with Mystical Monkey Power. That happened to me. Yoriko claims that when I understand the power, I can call on it to make me stronger and faster. It can also make me better at Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. I **was** fighting with Monty using a Kung Fu that I had never learned. The bastard cheated by grabbing me with his feet…"

"Cheated," growled a small voice agreeing with the Blond.

"If I hadn't been at cousin Larry's, then I could have helped restrain Lord Fiske, and the statues wouldn't have been smashed. At the very least, I could have tried the power, right?" Kim looked annoyed.

"Maybe, maybe not," Subira pointed out, "Lord Fiske attacked your hologram first. That allowed Ron to escape and call you. It was your cousin Larry that provided the suggestion to use the statues. If you had been there, then you wouldn't have talked to Larry, and neither one of you might have used them."

"Kimberly," Mistress Sensei said, "traditionally, the mystical knowledge that Ronald needs to learn would be doled out a little at a time to him, and he would be sworn to keep it a secret from his family and especially from you. Instead, he would embark on a journey of spiritual growth and self-discovery, for say, ten-fifteen years. We believe that we don't have time for that nonsense."

"This sounds like a cheesy Kung Fu movie where some kid finds a magic sword and finds out that he is the chosen warrior to fight some ancient and grievous wrong," said Kimberly.

"Exactly. There are prophecies and ancient writings and such, but this… this is where things get real. Ronald might be the bearer of this mystical power, perhaps not, but he is your friend, and we believe that if the power is permanent, then it can be of great assistance to both him and you," declared Wendy.

"Is it permanent?"

Subira looked at a skeptical redhead and her best friend, "Yoriko believes that it is permanent. We want you both to come and meet with other experts who have other tests that we can run. Plan on spending the night, we will also discuss what you must keep secret. We have to coordinate with the other attendees for the exact date. In the meantime, please don't discuss this with anyone except for Hiero and Yoriko."

**Finite Middletons (Middleton Mall, after school the next day)**

"You really want to wait in that line for tickets for a choreographed match between fake over-muscled actors?"

"KP, you wound me. Pain King and Steel Toe are two of the finest athletes and fighters on the planet. Besides, you're already waiting in line for both of us, see?" he pointed to the redhead bouncing in anticipation in the middle of the line.

"It's a Holo Kim?" she guessed, "but how is a hologram going to pay the money and bring back the tickets?"

"Wade's got a small robot under the hologram with a storage compartment and a pair of tentacles to manage the purchase. He's thinking of renting units to people who can't afford the time to spend hours waiting in lines."

"OK… So, Ronnie, should we hit the food court or game arcade first?" Kim offered his favorites because lately, the pair seemed not to have spent a lot of time just hanging out. She didn't think it was her fault, but was feeling a little shortchanged on exposure to a happy Ronnie; 'Ron-shine' as she sometimes thought of it.

"Actually, I need to go in here," the blond pointed to her favorite store.

"Club Banana?" she said in delighted astonishment, "I thought you were a dedicated Smarty Mart shopper for clothes?"

"Usually, but I need a custom piece made," Ron led them into the store.

Kim peeled off to look at a display of cargo pants on sale.

"Welcome to Club Banana, can I help you?" a dark-skinned sales clerk walked up to Ron. The young woman strongly suspected that this customer wasn't the browsing type, but was here to buy if someone could point them in the right direction.

"I want this made with this fabric," Ron handed her a couple of paper printouts.

"Really?" the clerk thought the request wasn't normal, but hey, a sale was a sale. "Step this way and let me see what we can do for you." Walking up to her register, she pulled up the catalog section on 'Custom Sports Clothing.' Browsing through the listing, she found a page titled "Highland Games." They even had some with pockets.

Pointing to her screen, she asked, "Want pockets or keep it traditional? If you want to put down a twenty-five percent deposit, I can put in the custom order, and the custom tailors will reject it if they can't do it. You do know that Smarty-Mart carries at least twenty-thousand different registered tartan patterns in stock, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to wear a tartan that I didn't earn or is from a clan that I don't belong to." Ron reached for his wallet. "let's do the one without pockets, please."

"Do you belong to our Club Banana Club? You'll get fifteen percent off plus twenty Banana bucks when you pay in full."

"I belong, he can use my card," a redhead said, handing over a golden card. "Charter Member," she grinned.

"That will be nineteen dollars and fifty cents," the clerk said, then after giving Ron his change back, finished with "I'll give you a call in a day or two to let you know if they can make it."

"That sounds good, thanks. KP, I'm going to check on the tickets, OK?"

"OK, Ronnie, let me check out and then I'll come to find you."

"That will be seven-fifty using the banana bucks in your account," the young woman finally looked at the gold card as she handed it back

"Kim Possible?! Wow, the stuff you do is amazing!"

"Aw! It's no big, but thanks."

"I'm Monique. I just moved here."

"Where will you go to school?"

"Middleton. I start on Monday."

"That's my school! You just have to let me show you around."

"Deal!"

They were interrupted by Ron's call for help; the ticket line had turned into a near riot, and he was trapped in the middle.

"See you at school!" called Kim as she grabbed her purchases and ran out the door to rescue her BFF from the over-exuberant wrestling fans.

**Finite Middletons (Stoppable home, late morning)**

Yoriko pulled an overnight bag out of her closet. After disarming it, she pulled a plastic wallet-sized card out of a small case along with a current passport and a pair of large envelopes containing printouts of official Global Justice reports. She closed the case, rearmed it, and put it back in the closet.

She had warned Ronald that she might not be home in time for dinner in which case he was to eat with the Possibles. Hiero knew of her mission and would provide backup and retrieval if she did not reappear in twenty-four hours.

Walking on the sidewalk headed in the direction of the Bueno Nacho, she spotted where the edging of the grass along the concrete looked exceptionally well trimmed. Standing in the center of that spot, she took the plastic card, pressed the center, and fell into darkness.

A puff of compressed air slowed her arrival in a well-lit room. The end of the tube was transparent, and a door slid open. Walking to a security desk by the door, she held out the card and her passport, telling the guard, "Please take me to Betty Director."

The guard saw the letters 'PV' embossed in the card, scanned the holographic design on the back, typed a short message on a keyboard and replied, "It will just be a minute, please. Ma'am, I can't leave my post; a senior agent will be here in a moment to assist you."

Handing back the card and her passport, he said, "The little fridge over there has bottled water, and the coffee is fresh if you would like some."

Giving a small, polite bow to the guard, she replied, "Domo, but I am fine for now."

**Finite Middletons (Unknown location)**

"Agent Du speaking, how can I help you?" GJ's number one agent was spending the morning in the watch center when the alert came in.

"This is Paul in the visitor control center; we have a woman, Oriental appearance, early 20's, and carrying a Privileged Visitor Badge asking to speak with Dr. Director."

"Does the badge check out?"

"All the security features look good, but something is strange. The data on the card checks out, that is, all the cryptographic signatures are correct, and the tamper seals are all untouched. But the dates for the signatures are two years in the future. The bearer's fingerprints check along with the DNA recorded on the card. But the real-time clock in the card says that 12 years have passed since the card was issued."

"Is she alone? How did she come in?"

"She appears to be alone; she arrived via the Bueno Nacho Elm street tube. Shall I raise the THREAT CON to Charlie?"

"No, that will not be necessary. I will come and escort her to see Dr. Director."

Checking the charge on his shock watch, he removed and locked his sidearm in the Watch Officer's desk.

"You'd think time travelers would be able to make meeting arrangements in advance…" he grumbled, walking into the corridors.

* * *

Yoriko brightened when she saw Will Du walk into the visitor center without a drawn sidearm or extra security.

"Top Agent Du," she said, "My name is Yoriko Tanaka. Is Director-sensei available? May I visit with her?"

"May I ask the nature of your business?"

"I have documents that she personally asked me to pass to her at this time."

"Very well, follow me please," the badge did imply that all courtesies were to be given to the bearer and the badge was only issued at the request of the Director. The woman seemed to have met him; possibly in his future/her past and carried documents that Betty gave her in the future to give to her in the present? 'Time travel: a cornucopia of disturbing concepts, indeed,' he thought.

* * *

"Ms. Tanaka, these are… interesting documents," the woman wearing an eye patch said. After meeting with her privileged visitor, and seeing the markings on the reports that she delivered, Dr. Director had immediately adjourned to a secure, private meeting room.

Opening the large sealed envelopes, the head of GJ had found two copies of several reports. She gave one set to Agent Du and sent him to forensics to check for clues on their authenticity. Finally, she opened an envelope with her name on it and read the enclosed letter. Written by herself. Then she quickly scanned the rest of the documents while the young woman patiently waited.

"Interesting does not seem to adequately describe the impact of the death of 125 million of my countrymen," Yoriko pointed out, her voice slightly colder than was completely courteous.

The director looked embarrassed, "My apologies, the events described in some of these documents are so staggering that it's hard for me to believe that they are real. Have you read them?"

"I was present when you wrote the letter, and I browsed the reports before they were placed in the large envelopes. I witnessed many of the events in person. Perhaps I should leave and give you time to look them over. If you wish, I can return to answer any questions you have."

They were interrupted by beeping at the door from Agent Du entering the door code and coming back into the room.

"Ma'am," he nodded at the Director, "the initial examination of the documents suggest that they are authentic GJ reports."

"Miss Tanaka has suggested that we study the documents and she can return later to answer any questions we have. Would you please take her to wherever she would like to go?" Dr. Director stood and gave the Oriental woman a short bow, "Please keep the PV badge. Again, I apologize for my comment. GJ will do whatever it takes to see that those people do not die this time."

Yoriko returned the bow respectfully, "It was an honor to see you again. Let me know if and when I can be of further assistance."

Fifteen minutes later Agent Du returned.

"Du, check out Kim Possible. This letter I wrote to myself recommends us doing that as soon as practical. I think I owe Mr. Gray an apology for not believing him."

**Finite Middletons (the Persian Gulf, fifty nautical miles from Abu Dhabi island, distance rapidly increasing)**

"Would the crazy American like a sandwich?"

Ron looked up at the special forces troop grinning at him, holding out a tray with sandwiches, cheese, and other snacks.

"Cheese!" cried his left cargo pocket.

"Thanks," he replied, selecting a turkey and swiss on a baguette along with some extra cheese slices and crackers. He didn't recognize the man's rank insignia but thought the sailing ship with a sword, and the words "Commandos Marine" on his beret looked pretty cool.

"I am Pierre Lotti," the commando introduced himself, holding out his hand.

"Ron Stoppable and Rufus," he replied as Rufus climbed up on his lap and started on a cheese slice. The blond extended his hand for a handshake, noticing too late that his hand was trembling.

The man set down the tray and grasped Ron's hand firmly in a two-handed grip and held it until his solid, warm, understanding grip helped Ron relax a bit and stop trembling.

"Did I fall asleep when they briefed the part of the plan where you and Mlle. Possible walk in using the front door, take the hostages by the hand and just walk out the front, ignoring all the bad men with guns?" Ron thought Pierre was amused, if not, then the heck with him; they got the two captives out safely with no shots fired.

"Nah, that's what we Americans call 'an audible.' The plan was that we were to go in like we knew what we were doing and we belonged there. Check for explosives; if none then either get out or get safe and call in the cavalry. Simple, what could go wrong?"

"So, we walk in, pretty much unnoticed, as everyone seemed to be paying attention to this shouting match going on between a guy in a suit and a guy in street clothes. We see no explosives, lots of chains on the two hostages but only a single keyed Master Lock padlock securing each one. Not to brag, but we can open those faster with a pick than finding the right key on a keyring. KP looks at me, pulls out a hairpin and nods. We whisper a quick introduction, pick the locks, toss cloaks over their heads and walk out the front door like we were sent to fetch them. We get halfway to the street when all this shouting starts up behind us. We push the hostages out of the way, hit the dirt, you guys leap over us, and that's all folks. No shots fired."

"The pair of flash-bangs you dropped helped immeasurably." the commando pointed out.

"Yeah, well, Rufus told me when to drop them." Ron gave his buddy a pet and tore off a piece of sandwich for him to eat.

"But," the blond continued, "things could have gone so wrong so fast. I'm thinking that being integrated with an armed assault unit against people who keep their guns set on 'full auto' isn't the best idea for a couple of high school students. Especially working in broad daylight."

"You might have to convince your captain of that, my friend" the commando pointed to the front of the aircraft where a glowing Kim was animatedly talking to some senior officers.

Ron chewed on his sandwich, wondering if this Ninja stuff had a prayer of keeping his Kimberly safe.

**Finite Middletons (Scotland)**

Ron didn't even have time to debrief with Yoriko before they were off doing a "normal" mission the day after the Abu Dhabi rescue. The villain was a new one, Duff Killigan. The crime was kidnapping a retired scientist, although they had just found Professor Sylvan Green covered in grass in the lair's basement.

There was barely time for Monique to deliver his new mission kilt to him. A solid black kilt made from the same abrasion and heat resistant wool that Yoriko had his mission shirts made from. The addition of black knee-high compression socks to his standard black rugged wool tactical shirt and soft black boots gave him a pretty cool Ninja-stealth mission outfit if he did say so himself. Kim had ignored his new "look" because she was so tweaked about Bonnie working to take over the cheer squad. Monique wanted to show him how to wear it, but Kim was in a hurry and dragged him off.

The good news was that Ron's stress level had plummeted on this mission. While Duff could rapidly tee off explosive golf balls, his golf clubs had no 'full auto' selector, the explosives in the golf balls were not that powerful, and Kim seemed to be able to dodge them. The leading entertainment on the trip was the conflict between Global Justice Agent Will Du and Kim. Watching the pair compete to show who was the most capable was amusing and distracted the two to the point where Ron found himself pulling the two competing alphas out of the line of fire of an exploding golf ball and generally directing a lot of the mission.

* * *

"He could find out anything he wanted to know about my work in a public library," Professor Green said in response to Will's demand that the professor debrief him on what secrets he told Killigan about his missile work from the sixties.

"Bonus Question," said Ron as Kim gave a satisfied smirk, having been proven correct, "What does Killigan want to do with the supergrass?"

"Ooh, Ooh! I know! I know!" came a Scottish brogue from the top of the stairs in the basement where they had found the professor.

"Duff Killigan is planning on covering the world in supergrass to create one giant golf course," Kim declared.

"My own **personal** golf course, Lassie," the golfer corrected.

"That's insane!" said Du.

"Ooh, just see if you get a tee time," retorted Killigan, slamming the door with a loud clunk of a locking bar dropping into place.

Will ran up the stairs with Kim close behind and started struggling to open the door.

"Uh-uh-uh! Ladies first," Kim stepped up, cut the locking bar using a pencil-sized plasma torch, and kicked the door open. Du pressed past her and ran at Duff only to have the golfer step aside and trip the agent with a golf club.

"I knew ye were good, lassie." Duff pointed at Du with a golf club. "Him, I'm not so sure about.," turning to look at Ron, he continued, "What in the name of the wee man are ye wearing, laddie?"

"It's a kilt," said the confused blond teen. He thought that maybe Drakken wouldn't recognize it, but surely this Scotsman should know. "I wanted to see if it would be better than pants for my mission clothes."

"You have part of it, wrong laddie, the pleats go in the back not the front, so turn it around. Didn't ye mother teach you how to dress?"

"Duff Killigan, I am placing you under arrest for possession of classified missile technology!" Will Du had recovered and was trying to get back in the game.

"Yer bum's oot the windae! There's no missile technology here, ya eejit. I don't think that conspiracy to fertilize a lawn is a crime, awa an bile yer heid!" Having dismissed the Agent, the Scotsman turned back to finish his conversation with Ron while Kim came over to discuss charges with Du.

Ron grabbed hard on the top of the kilt and spun it around his waist, "_Now,_ I see. It was getting annoying with that purse thing hitting me on the butt. Mr. Killigan, this is the first time I've worn a kilt, I just thought that it would be comfortable after this one time I wore a cheerleader skirt, but their pleats go all the way around and…"

"It's a kilt, its not a skirt! OK? Now, Sonny Jim, do you often wear cheerleader skirts? Is this some dress-up game that you and the lassie play?" the Scotsman said looking over at the redhead who was still occupied talking to Will Du about how they didn't have any charge to use to arrest the Mad Golfer.

"My name's Ronald Stoppable, Mr. Killigan. It was this one time where Kim and I accidentally swapped bodies…"

After finally getting the GJ Agent to agree that they had nothing to arrest Killigan the redhead ran over to her partner. Since there was nothing else they could do here, she and the retired scientist were going to catch a ride back on the Global Justice hoverjet.

"… and since I was in Kim's body, I was dressed as a cheerleader, and I remember telling myself that 'the breeze' was refreshing…"

Usually, the redhead would have reached out, grabbed her BFF and just towed him along but there was now a woman wearing a similarly colored kilt as the golfer with a matching sash talking to Ron along with Duff.

"Ron, let's jet. I've got to get back to Middleton to see what Bonnie is up to," she said, extending her hand to grab him, clearly anxious to be off. She wasn't the only one, Rufus bailed out of Ron's pocket and climbed up on Kim's shoulder. She could have sworn the little guy squeaked "I come with you. Leave now! Please?"

"KP," the blond addressed his best friend, "Meet Kate MacKilligan, she's Duff's niece. We've all invited to dinner."

"Pleased to meet you Miss Possible," the young woman with hazel eyes and wavy light brown hair said, intercepting the hand that Kim had extended intending to grab her BFF and giving it a warm handshake. Lowering her voice, she continued, "I'm here as part of the family's effort to bring Uncle Duff back into the fold."

Looking around, the redhead asked, "Where did Duff go?"

Hearing a noise at the front door, she looked over just in time to see Will Du salute and slip out with Professor Green.

"Ronald! Time to get started if you want to see ma Gram's recipe." the mad golfer's voice called from a hallway, "Nobody visits Castle Killigan without eating Gram's Haggis!

"Coming!" Ron turned and started down the hall.

Kate, still speaking in a low, conspiratorial voice, said, "Uncle was going to slip off to Japan tonight and turn their islands into a putting green. But I convinced him to cook dinner for his guests instead. If you need to get back, your's best get going," smirking, she continued,  
"I dinnae ken if that old fellae will wait on ye. I can see that Ronald gets home safely first thing in the morning."

Kim really wanted to go back, Bonnie was up to something, and Ron didn't seem to be in danger. Will Du would wait for her, wouldn't he? It was only Duff and this Kate person. Duff was undoubtedly doing the cook bonding thing with Ron. Kate didn't seem evil or a villain or anything like that. Besides, she was too old for her partner, anyway; she had to be twenty at least. The redhead admitted that the older girl was cute, but not Ron's type. Still, Hiero had stressed many times that she must never, ever let her partner perform or finish a mission alone. A mission wasn't complete until both were safely back home.

"Getting back home can wait, Dinner with you all sounds very nice. Can we both get a ride home tomorrow?"

"We'd be pleased to give you a ride home. Uncle so rarely has dinner guests. He's cooking what he calls a taste of Scotland. Ever play a board game called Stramash?"

"No, I haven't."

"That's OK; it's easy to learn. Come, I'll show you."

**Finite Middletons (Unknown location)**

"Agent Du, what is your evaluation of Kimberly Possible?"

"For an amateur, she did well. She sacrificed her team to give us time to warn Japan. The Japanese Defense Force is ready should Duff Killigan decide to try to convert their land into a giant putting green.

"I hadn't heard of anything happening to Team Possible!?"

"They delayed Duff Killigan by convincing him to make dinner for them. Then they were up late, apparently playing a board game."

The head of Global Justice blanched, "Dinner? You mean…."

Agent Du shuddered, "Yes, Gram Killigan's haggis."

* * *

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

ST103, CB73, and Daccu65 have spent a lot of time helping me with plot, editing, and such. Thanks, guys! Note that when it comes to kilts, ST103 is an expert.

This was fun to write, in previous work, I've researched swearing in Japanese (they don't), Cowboys from the old West (used normal words because Cowboys were 'polite'), Chinese (found references to eggs, turtles and tofu), but an annoyed Scotsman is a joy to hear. Lots of grief from the spell checker.


	11. Haggis

**Finite Middletons (Scotland, Killigan's Castle)**

"KP? KP? Time to wake up sweetie-boo…" Kim rose from the depths of a truly deep and restful nap to look into her BFF's soft brown eyes. She must have fallen asleep while talking to Kate in this overstuffed chair and was covered by someone with a quilt.

"Sweetie-boo!?" she replied in a voice somewhere in the vicinity between a growl and a sleepy question.

"Seems that Duff is a bit of a romantic and thinks we are a couple. He asked if we could keep the PDA to a minimum around Kate. She just got dumped by her boyfriend. At any rate, dinner's ready, honey-buns."

Annoyed green eyes locked onto amused brown eyes. For endless seconds, the two stared into each other's eyes, then the snickering started, then finally laughing as the pair cleaned up for dinner and went into the kitchen.

She was seated at the table; to her surprise, Ron even scooted up her chair for her. Duff was sitting at her left, Kate at her right, and Ron had a place directly across from her. No food on the table, just four place settings each with a glass of wine and one of water.

Duff stood and started, "Please raise your glasses to Kim Possible, the reason we are dining here tonight instead of traveling halfway across the world to make mischief." Ron and Kate raised a glass, saying, "To Kim!"

Kimberly, amused, raised her glass, saying, "Thank you, Mr. Killigan."

Ron started putting plates in front of all the diners; the first course had three "blobs" of food, one white, one yellowish and the last was a crumbly brown mass sitting in an artful puddle of gravy.

"The first course is the soul of Scotland: haggis, neeps, and tatties," explained Duff in his best host manner, "Ronald prepared the haggis according to my Gram's recipe with some alterations,"

Ron spoke up, "I used a pressure cooker to speed up cooking time. Otherwise, we'd have to boil it for hours. Neeps and tatties are mashed turnips and mashed potatoes."

There was a bleating noise from under the table.

Ron laughed, "No, Rufus, nobody puts sheep lung in the haggis anymore. Trust me, it's all good," seeing Kim's dubious expression; he added, "Sort of a crumbly meatloaf made with oatmeal instead of breadcrumbs. Not in the shape of a brain."

Kim cautiously tried the food. Mashed veggies were what she expected, edible with butter and haggis gravy. The haggis was spicy coarse oatmeal with peppery meat bits. She wouldn't go so far as to have her Mom replace her brainloaf with it, but not bad. Feeling something moving on her lap, she looked down to see mole rat eyes looking up at her. She snuck him bites of the three dishes. He ate them but wasn't impressed.

Ron cleared away the now empty plates and placed the next course on the table, plates with an oatcake, an assortment of cheeses, along with smoked salmon and grilled salmon strips. In the center of the table, he placed a plate of oatcakes and a small clear glass pitcher of a dark-amber thick liquid. At first, she was baffled by why her plate had so much more food than the others; then she looked down to see Rufus in her lap looking up at her with his nose sniffing excitedly.

"Lassie," laughed their host, "Put the wee beastie on the table, Gram would pitch a fit if she knew, but I'm nae a wee clipe.

Kate pointed out, "Scotland is famous for heather honey, salmon and cheese, especially different kinds of cheddar."

Soon, Rufus was on the table with his very own plate and food. Talk around the table turned to colleges. Kate had been going to school in Paris to study engineering for the last year, but had gotten homesick and was back home looking at universities and colleges in Scotland. They discovered that Duff was on a tenure track to become a Professor of Engineering before he came into a small inheritance and became obsessed with golf. His specialty was mechanical engineering with a side interest in mining explosives.

After dessert, which was a parfait looking dish called cranachan, made with heavy cream, raspberries and a little scotch whiskey, they talked and played Stramash; a game similar to the American board game "Sorry!" except it has a piece called the 'Bonnie.' That piece can make a pawn go all the way back to the beginning and start over. Kim and Ron found that appropriate and amusing.

Finally, Kate said, "Uncle, our guests need to be back home by in the morning. If you go warm up the Zeppelin, Ron and I will pack up leftovers."

Kim asked, "Mr. Killigan, can I help?"

The Scotsman narrowed his eyes, looking at the redhead for a moment, then replied, "Dinnae know how much you can help, but come with me."

She followed him into a large barn-like structure built onto the side of the castle. Inside was an airship painted with the same Tartan as his clothing. A gondola hung down from the dirigible touching the floor. Opening the door, he stepped up and turned around to give her a courteous, but an unnecessary hand up.

Looking around, she saw a control console and not much else.

"Mr. Killigan," she asked, "Is this going to take us to another craft, a jet or something?"

"Lassie, call me Duff. I think that you two young people and I are either going to be great friends or great adversaries. It's 1:38 AM here which is 6:38 PM in Middleton. What time do you want to be home?"

"Uh. 7 AM Middleton time would be good. That would let us shower and change to get ready for school."

Duff pulled out what looked like a ruler. It had a sliding section in the middle which he moved back and forth. Frowning, he complained,

"Kimberly, that's nae challenge, I can dae that without cracking the speed of sound. How about 11 PM, that's about four hours from now? Give me a chance to show off a wee little bit."

"That would be fine," Kim replied.

The redhead turned, hearing a noise to see Ron and Kate climbing into the gondola. Ron had their mission packs; Kate carried several insulated bags like you would carry on a picnic. Duff went to the front and took what looked like a ship's wheel. Kate motioned them to sit on benches running along the side. She went to a console, worked controls, and they saw moonlight stream in from where barn roof folded back. For a half hour, they sailed silently and as Kim thought, 'way too slowly to get home tonight.' Kate pushed a button on her panel, declaring, "no radar on us, next satellite pass in twenty-five minutes."

The entire airship vibrated as it reconfigured. From the windows, they saw that the gondola was moving up into the 'balloon.' One of Kate's screens showed a view from the top of the ship looking forward. The airship was growing longer and thinner. Opening the door, they stepped out into a narrow hallway.

"There are sleeper cabins at the end of the hall," Duff pointed aft, "You bairns look tired, go and try fur a kip. I ask that you remain in the cabin and don't snoop around on this trip. Next time I'll give you a tour. Agreed?"

"Agreed," said Kim.

"Ronald?" Duff asked when it appeared that the young man was hesitating.

"Agreed," said Ron after a nudge from Kim.

"Agreed," squeaked Rufus.

"Well, off with ye then and get some rest, we'd best go steer the ship."

At the end of the hall were two doors leading to two identical sleeper cabins. They had a full-size bed, lockers to secure their stuff and barely enough room to turn around. In the corner was a door to a standard airline toilet. Following mission protocol, they decided to share a room rather than split up. After reading the instructions to the bed posted on the wall, Kim said,

"OK, we need to get under the covers. In case of turbulence, the covers will automatically tighten to prevent us from being tossed around the room."

"Ron!" she protested, turning her back to him when he released a pair of buckles and started to unwrap his kilt. "A little warning, please, and thank you."

"What? I don't want the fabric to wrinkle… Oh… I'm wearing a Speedo under the kilt."

"I thought guys didn't wear anything under a kilt."

"Monique included a note from the tailor that said I needed underwear or a Speedo if there was a chance I could flash my 'twig and berries' at an innocent bystander. You know, doing things like climbing ladders, dancing, sitting on low couches, being around little kids etc.,"

"Twig and berries?" the redhead snorted then asked, "Is that a dagger in your sock?"

"It's supposed to be a utility knife called a sgian dubh, (pronounced 'Skeen Doo') but since I intend to wear it to school, the Club Banana bunch gave me this."

She laughed when he pulled out a spork with an ornamental handle from its sheath.

Soon the pair were dressed for sleep and, with Rufus, were tucked snuggly under the safety covers.

"Ronnie? I'll take first watch, I had that nap earlier, so I'm good."

"OK, but I think we are safe enough for now. I don't feel any 'bad road' with these two." Now that Ron was horizontal, he found himself getting sleepy.

"You get some sleep; I might need you fresh to calm me down if Bonnie has taken over the cheer squad."

"Let her have it," murmured a sleepy voice.

"What!?"

"Come on, KP. How long could Bonnie keep up with a team captain's duties? I bet she'll come begging for you to take back the job in a month. Let her try and maybe she'll quit snarking at you. Think about it."

"OK." there was no reply. She had heard, indirectly and off-the-record that he hadn't been sleeping well. Maybe if she did let Bonnie take over the cheer squad for a little bit, she'd have more time to pay attention to him.

**Finite Middletons (Over the North Atlantic)**

Their cabin was cold, so Kim backed into Ron to share some of his body heat. She was laying there pondering how to handle the whole Bonnie sitch when he jerked awake with a wordless cry, pushed her onto her back and started running his hands over her body. Her protest died aborning, seeing the naked terror in his eyes. She suddenly realized that he was looking for wounds!

His eyes cleared and stifling a sob; he said, "Sorry, just a bad dream…" Sucking in a ragged breath and trying to put on a goofy grin, he continued, "That haggis sandwich I ate before bed probably wasn't a good idea, huh?"

"Yeah, better stick to nachos from now on. Go wipe off the sweat and come back to bed. We've still got a couple of hours to go."

He crawled out of the burrito-style wrapping formed by the sheets where only the top was open and staggered to the tiny bathroom. The thought, 'nice butt,' drifted unasked across her mind. When he returned, she directed him to the other, drier side of the bed. She silently crawled into his arms, she knew it was a bad idea, but she was cold and wanted to comfort her best friend.

"Something has to change; these nightmares have to stop," she said.

"You could be my girlfriend…"

"Be serious for a minute, OK? Maybe we have to back off being so close. Close as friends that do missions together got us to where we are now. Close as boyfriend/girlfriend would be worse even if we didn't do missions together, we'd just worry until the other came back from their mission."

Realizing that she was enjoying the warmth laying in his arms without him saying anything, she said,"

"Ronnie? Come on, talk to me. Please."

Ron knew that he should agree and move on, but he was tired and still unnerved from the nightmare, so he blurted out what he was thinking, "You said that being boyfriend/girlfriend is out and being friends isn't looking good either. I mean you're telling me that the choices I have are either getting my heart ripped out and stomped on or getting my heart ripped out and fed to feral pigs. I'd rather have the nightmares."

"I'm not saying we need to decide on anything right now, but think about it, please," she said, suddenly feeling like a significant hypocrite laying in his arms while bringing this up. "And OK, you're right, I'll stop doing missions before I will stop being your friend. Together forever, right? But please, Ronnie, the nightmares, have to stop. We'll figure it out. Together."

**Finite Middletons (Middleton High School, Sports fields, 6:30 AM the next morning)**

The portion of the track they were sparring on was made of recycled rubber. When it rained, it was dryer than the grass, and while a little abrasive to slide on, it was surprisingly soft to land on. Like right now, Ron almost got a good hit on Yoriko. Ron had complained that being a true gentleman, he could not hit a visibly pregnant woman. In response, she had handed him washable markers and told him that a mark on her white uniform would count as a win.

They were even at two wins each when he simultaneously feinted a kick while launching a dual attack with both hands. In a feat that had Crystal cheering, the "old, pregnant woman" had blocked all three attacks, then before he could recover, dropped him to the ground with a spinning kick sweeping his ankles. Then to show off, the Winter Ninja dropped on her prone opponent with a body slam worthy of Pain King.

"Yoriko!" Kim came jogging up from her morning session in the weight room, "I think you need to stop sparring, You're gonna hurt the baby!"

"Kimberly," the white-clad ninja rolled to her feet and reached down to pull her groaning opponent to his feet, "I fear that this is our last sparring session until after the baby arrives. I have already stopped running stairs; now I will have to find him a new sparring partner. Pity, he won two of five this morning, that's a personal best."

"Can I help?" said Crystal, walking up to join the conversation, "I mean I'm not a real martial artist, but I studied karate for several years when I was younger. I was thinking of switching from Cheer Squad to the new King Phooey club anyway…."

"I can spar with Ronnie, wait, did you say you are quitting cheer squad?" interjected Kim.

"Oh, that's right, you missed the last two meetings. Bonnie finished the fundraiser, and we all have new uniforms, really nice ones. Bonnie pushed for a vote for new cheer captain; she said you told her to go ahead."

"I don't remember saying that, but I certainly don't have a problem with it."

"That's good because she's now the squad captain. She split the squad into two parts, a general cheerleader group and a smaller 'traveling group' of the best cheerleaders to go to competitions."

"The cheer squad isn't that big."

"She was recruiting freshmen all last week without telling anybody and recruited some of her buddies from the gymnastics team for the traveling team."

"That scheming snake!" the former cheer captain was about ten seconds from showing that red hair was a valid predictor of emotional volatility when her best friend came up to her.

"KP, remember the discussion on the airship last night, let her be the captain because fair is fair and she'll find that it's harder than it looks."

"You guys rode on an airship?" Crystal asked.

"Yeah, it was our ride back from Scotland. It might have been a balloon; I'm not sure of the distinction."

"Cool. Say, if you guys ever need an assistant, let me know. Uh, Ron, care to go to a movie Friday night, maybe hang out at the mall for dinner?"

"Ronald has a previous commitment for Friday night and Saturday," said Yoriko, before Ron had a chance to respond, then continued, "but if Thursday night were acceptable, I'd let him sleep in later Friday morning."

"Thursday would be fine, catch you in the morning for a run, Ron. Kim, see you at cheer practice," Crystal said, jogging off to get ready for class.

"Ronald, you should hit the showers and get ready for class, I need to go speak with Barkin-sensei, I will see you after school."

"KP, what the heck just happened?" Ron said, watching the Ninja and a running buddy head out off the track. "We weren't even gone for two whole days."

"Beats me. I'd better get going too. Catch you for lunch?"

"Naw, I've got a tutoring session. I'll see you after cheer practice, OK?"

"Sure. If you can, get there a little early, there might be fireworks…"

"OK, later."

Cutting across a gym, the redhead managed to catch up with the Ninja,

"Yoriko, what's the sitch? Why are you arranging dates for Ron?"

"Crystal seems nice; she has asked me if you and Ron were dating or anything. After Ron's after-action report this morning, the answer is a resounding 'no.'"

"After action report?"

"Knowing what happened on a mission is vital to getting better for the next mission, yes? He told me that he had a nightmare and that you believe that you and he are too close. I believe that when he mentioned being boyfriend/girlfriend, your response was to tell him to stop kidding around. Also that it would be best if the two of you weren't so close."

"He told you that?!"

"Yes, in case you haven't noticed, Ronald tends to over-share things that he believes aren't a secret."

"Did he mention that he told Duff Killigan about the two of us swapping bodies?"

"Was that supposed to be a secret?"

"Well, it's a good idea if you don't want to be carried off to have your head examined by doctors in white coats and padded rooms."

"You and he both knew, of course, your parents and brothers knew, did anyone at school figure it out?"

"Well, Bonnie and the cheer squad figured it out."

"I will speak to Ronald about using more discretion in telling people things that aren't necessarily secret. Is there anything else?" The Ninja had stopped in the hall; the main office door was coming up.

Kim paused, not knowing how to continue about Ron. Yoriko pressed on,

"You are still doing weight training in the mornings, correct?"

"Yes, but it's not about Paul, that guy's a creep."

"Might it be because the weight room is next to a music room where a charming older artist practices guitar?"

"Yoriko! I've never even talked to Josh Mankey."

"Pity. Still, I see no problem with Crystal talking to Ron, do you?"

Kim blushed but had no answer.


	12. Future meets Past

**Finite Middletons (Middleton High School, Gym, Monday immediately after class)**

"I know Rufus, I'm hungry too, but I promise that was the last tutoring session that will overlap lunchtime, our priorities are now straight," Ron assured his little buddy as they walked to the gym, "No, we can't eat until we meet with Kim, we said we'd be there in case she needed our support."

They arrived about ten seconds too late as Bonnie was already gloating to Kim.

"Hi Kim, too bad you missed the elections and the vote on the travel squad." Bonnie was in the best mood that either of them had ever seen.

"Bonnie, you did an outstanding job on the fund drive and congratulations on the winning the election," Kim replied assuming that Bonnie wouldn't last long running the squad, "the new uniforms look great, and the increase in squad size sounds impressive. Hope it's not too hard for you to keep up…"

"Oh, don't worry about me, 'K.' Britney, Britni, and Brittne are helping with the new travel squad and Tara, Cari, and Cary are working on new member recruiting and scheduling the non-traveling cheerleaders. You're welcome to try out for the traveling squad, but miss three practices or one meet, and you're off the travel team. They meet for rehearsals before school at 6:30. Excuse me, but I have to check with the Brits about the upcoming meets." The overly cheerful Brunette flounced off towards a trio of three perky blondes with clipboards.

A gentle hand on her shoulder followed by the little but sincere hug on her neck from a naked mole rat helped the redhead remain...somewhat calmly, in place.

"Hey K," Tara came up wearing the old uniform, "Sorry everything got so out of control."

"Where's your new uniform?" Ron asked, still holding on to the redhead in case of delayed combustion.

"Travel squad got their uniforms first," Tara, for once, wasn't smiling. Ron started looking around for the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse. "Jessica didn't make the cut for the traveling team either. We are thinking of switching to the Kung Phooey club. We were hoping to start a new group, and we're hoping that Kim might help teach us. Jess and I were reading up on styles. Beside learning Tai Chi Quán which we have to do anyway in the club, Shaolin Kung Fu has lots of tumbling, jumping, rolling and stuff that seems kind of like cheer moves. Wing Chun is supposed to focus on simplicity. Simple sounds good. Praying Mantis looked pretty with its hand movements."

"We can fight to get the squad back…" Kim started to say.

"Seriously Kim, the squad hasn't been fun for a while now with all the bickering. Jess and I are changing, no matter what. Come with us, are you interested in a student or three?" Her smile was slowly coming back, "Ron, you'd let us do a Kung Fu session with Kim teaching part of it, right?"

"Are you kidding?" Ron practically cheered, "A group of people getting together to learn and teach each other! That's fantastic! Hiero is an expert on Northern Praying Mantis! I bet we could get him to teach a little here and there. Since Yoriko is no longer kicking my butt in sparring every damned morning, I'd bet she'd be up to a little coaching."

He was interrupted by his stomach growling.

"C'mon Ron, let's go to Bueno Nacho and talk details," suggested Tara.

"Booyah!" Ron ran his arm around the redhead and steered her in the direction of the door.

"KP, this could be great! Instead of butting heads with Bonnie all the time, you get to do martial arts with people that are glad you showed up."

Tara, once again sporting her natural smile, bounced over, took Kim by her other arm and helped maneuver her out the gym and towards celebratory Tex-Mex.

**Finite Middletons (Middleton High, Friday after school)**

"Hi Mom, Hi Yoriko," Kim said as she slid into her mom's sedan.

"Is Hiero going to meet us there?" asked Ron.

"He will try to catch up, he and James-sensei are taking Wade, Jim, and Tim out for a game of laser-tag and some movies as a distraction."

"Wade plays laser-tag?" Ron asked as Kim thought, "We've been stripped of our backup and support?"

"Wade-sensei and Hiero have a bet with the others that they can beat them with Hiero with a laser and a radio; Wade will only have a radio." Yoriko laughed, thinking of her male's ego. Possibly well earned, but still arrogance.

Yoriko drove to Mount Middleton, but instead of the main road to the resort area, they took a secondary highway around to the back of the mountain. Subira Chen greeted them and gave them a quick tour of The Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment. The location of the school wasn't widely advertised, but pizza delivery demonstrated that it wasn't a big secret.

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment on Mount Middleton, Friday after school)**

Over pizza, Mistress Sensei gave them a history of the original temple, from its founding in 338 AD to the present day. She told them that she would not mention the details of missions and goals of Yamanouchi Ninja over the centuries, but stressed that:

"True Ninjas exist for three reasons: to Protect Family, to Protect Community, to Protect Homeland."

"So you are saying that Yamanouchi Ninjas are the good guys?" asked Kim.

"No, I did not say that. If these actions are carried too far, it can lead to xenophobia. You might also find some of our historical methods objectionable."

Kim had a question that she had asked before, but had never actually gotten an answer, "Why are you guys training Ronnie and me? I mean we are the only kids we know that still have a Nanny and it can't be a coincidence that both our Nannies are Yamanouchi Ninja."

As Wendy and Subira both stood, Wendy, replied, "Excellent timing, Kimberly, here are some people that can help answer that."

Amanda 'Nana' Possible walked in the door followed by a short, skinny person wearing a green hoody with "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" in bold black lettering. The hood hid its face, but the woman bringing up the rear pulled their attention away; She was a muscular woman roughly six-feet, six inches in height, with red on yellow eyes that were clearly not human.

"Mom?!" Anne asked, "Are you a Ninja?"

"Really Anne, do you think Ninjas raised my son James? Men in Black might be a little closer, but that's neither here nor there. I want to introduce Gray and Warbyrd. Last month according to my wristwatch, the three of us dropped Wendy, Subira, Hiero, and Yoriko off in Middleton twelve years ago in this timeline.

"How can that be true?" asked Kimberly, "We've visited you in Summer and holidays. You and I spent a month in China!"

"Dear, that is true. But that version of me lived in this timeline until I got to the point where I needed to go back. I'm the same Nana, just a little older now. Don't think about it too hard; dear, time travel's a cornucopia of disturbing concepts."

"Why?" Ronald asked.

"Why are we back now?" said Nana, "we have to sync up with the original Yamanouchi. A conflict between us at the wrong time would be catastrophic."

"No," the blond calmly repeated, "Why did you do all this? Did we screw up something so spectacularly last time that this time you want us to get it right? Can we talk to our future selves and see what we need to do?"

"Ronald, Kimberly, your actions in the future were part of a sequence of events that ended up in a massive disaster. It was not your fault; in fact, we aren't certain exactly what you must do differently to heal the break in the timeline. Villains meddling in the time stream broke the future, and there have been at least two attempts to mend the time stream. We are not going to tell you a lot about when and where we think you need to perform specific acts. Ronald, your idea of popping into the future and talking to your future selves to see what they thought went wrong is sound, but we are from that future. We were forced to go 12 years back in the past to find an area we could travel to and make the change we needed. But that is something for another time. Wendy, it is approaching midnight. How are we doing this?"

"We will split into two groups. Yoriko, Ronald, Kimberly, Rufus, and I will meet Master Sensei in their Meditation Meadow. Our purpose is to present our bona fides. The rest of you will go to another room with Subira on the other side of the temple. I hope that Director-sama will join them. The purpose of that meeting is to discuss events that happened in the future that we must not allow to happen in this timeline. At least, the set of circumstances that we believe must not be allowed to happen.

Subira gathered up her group and led them out the door. Addressing the newcomers, she asked, "Is anyone hungry? We have plenty of leftover pizza, and Ronald brought some leftover haggis from Scotland if anyone wants to try that…"

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment on Mount Middleton. 11:57 PM)**

Kim knelt next to her best friend and his naked molerat. A couple of weeks ago, she, Ron, and believe it or not, her mom had done the astral projection communication thing. After their brains were swapped back into the correct bodies, they were unable to repeat the experiment. And their little shoulder angels were gone.

Kneeling on soft cushions in front of a large empty fireplace, they all watched as a glowing blue sword lowered out of the chimney and floated into the room.

"It's laughing?!" the redhead gasped; everyone could indeed feel the joy and feeling of a child playing hooky pouring off the wakizashi. The sword floated by, changing to a falchion as it passed Kim, a pair of shining war fans as it passed Yoriko, and finally back to a wakizashi as it settled in the hands of the Mistress Sensei.

Yoriko pulled out her phone. 11:59. Show-time.

The blade flashed three times. On the third flash, the room disappeared, and a meadow surrounded by cherry trees slowly came into focus.

**Finite Middletons (Yamanouchi, Japan. Master Sensei's study, 11:58 AM)**

"Ah, Yori-kun, do you have it?" the headmaster asked one of his best students, "did anyone see you take it?"

"Hai, Master, I have it. Hirotaka-san provided help and misdirection, but no one, not even he knows I have it." she held out a long slender wooden box.

"Well done, my daughter. Forgive this old man, but could you show me that it is really in the box, you did check it before you removed it?"

"Yes, Master, As you instructed, I," the young Ninja unlocked the latches and flipped open the top, "checked… It's gone! I swear I came straight here…"

"I have observed that the Blade has been going to visit friends for months now, if not years."

"Friends? You are saying the Chosen One is here?"

"No, I wouldn't go that far, Yori-kun, but I have noticed a certain smugness emanating from the blade. Shall we go meet these mysterious friends that our blade has chosen to sneak off and play with?" Her old teacher's expression was a combination of humor, concern, and curiosity.

"Shall I call for an escort, Master?" Yori had never really seen Master Sensei's full combat capability but worried that she was an insufficient backup for the school's headmaster, "At least Hirotaka and Fukushima?"

"The meditation meadow is our home ground. I'd rather have you and your war fans at my side than a dozen Fukushima sword carrying Ninjas."

Furiously blushing, the young Ninja bowed low, "I hope I can be worthy of such praise." Standing straight, she said, "I am ready."

Looking at this freshman student who met his eyes boldly without hesitation, "What does Tōgai Sensei say about having Pride?"

"Thank the Kami that I am Ninja and not Shaolin." she beamed at the teasing jest.

Laughing, the headmaster pointed to a spot near him for her to sit, "Follow me, please."

**Finite Middletons (physical location: N/A, Yamanouchi Meditation Meadow, ?:? ?)**

Yoriko choked back a sob of joy. She had dreamed for twelve long years about this meeting at this place. The meadow ringed with cherry trees in full bloom snapped into sharp focus. Two simple iron benches facing each other appeared in the grassy center of the small clearing. Standing in front of one of the benches was the headmaster, old, but still glowing with vitality. Seated next to him was a young student that looked very familiar.

"Were we ever that young and confident, Yoriko?" muttered Wendy.

"Apparently I was, Mistress Sensei," replied Yoriko.

"Welcome to Yamanouchi," The old headmaster said, "I thought I detected the Lotus blade was playing hooky to visit friends. I am Toshimiru Kaemon, the students and instructors here call me Master Sensei," he said, then pointing to the young woman next to him, he continued, "This is one of my most trusted students, Yori."

"We are glad to be here, Master Sensei. I am Wendy Wu, headmistress of the Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment." Nodding to the woman standing next to her, she said, "This is Yoriko, one of my Ninjas who is currently an instructor and armsman to Kimberly Possible and Ronald Stoppable. I have brought them here so that you may meet them. We have evidence that they are bound up in the MMP prophecies."

The old headmaster looked closer at the two adults, and his eyes showed surprise at an internal realization. Turning to his freshman student in the mystical arts, he said, "Yori-kun, please take Possible-kun and Stoppable-kun to the pond and examine them for mystical abilities while I speak to the headmistress and her ninja alone."

Yori, obediently but not happy about it gathered up the two teens and led them to a small pond at the other side of the mountain.

"I know you both," he said, "Or I did know you at one time. Please Wanda-san, Yori-san, sit and tell me what happened…"

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment on Mount Middleton. 12:45 AM)**

Anne put the Global Justice report down and just sat at the conference table, stunned. "You're telling me that Kimmy, my Kimmy, coldly gunned down two supervillains in cold blood? And then removed their heads like some, some barbaric trophy?"

"Anne sensei, there was no cold blood in Kimberly's actions. Killing Drakken and Shego stopped the launch of a prepared, take-over-the-world attack that would most likely have a death toll of thousands with thousands more left homeless. Those deaths nearly destroyed her. She blamed herself for first, abandoning Ronald, for his mutilation at the hands of Shego and finally for not coming up with a way to stop the attack without killing. She was convinced her act would cause you to stop loving her," Subira explained, "She confessed to Mrs. Stoppable only under the conditions of what Mrs. Stoppable called the **IWTYM **protocol. Do you have that in this timestream?"

"Yes, but as far as I know only Ronald and me have used it," was the reply. Then at a questioning look from Dr. Director sitting across the table, the mother continued, "The idea behind the '**I won't tell your mother'** protocol is that, for example, if Ron thinks he is in big trouble, he is more likely to talk to me knowing that his mom won't hear about it from me. That way, I can advise him. The idea is to require the child to take action to address the problem within a certain time frame, or we will tell their mom."

"In this case, Mrs. Stoppable required Kimberly to go into counseling within a week. I was the counselor that answered the phone." Subira explained. "Without going into details that I will be happy to talk to you one on one, Kimberly ended up seeking sanctuary in Japan from some part of the U.S. Government along with Ronald. In fleeing the country, she disguised herself as a goth, total hair color change and everything short of body modification. She kept the disguise after arriving in Japan. I feel that she wanted to transition herself from the Evil Kim that she had become into a Dark Kim."

Subira pulled out data disks and slid them over to the surgeon.

"These contain MRI scans and notes from Dr. Tōgai of Yamanouchi. The scans show anomalies that he couldn't explain, nor could you, at least in the limited time that you had before… before… Japan ran out of time."

Twelve years in a new timeline, twelve years to get over the loss of everything she was sworn to protect and she still couldn't speak of that loss without tears.

Dr. Director placed a sympathetic hand on the distraught Ninja.

"Dr. Possible," the one-eyed leader of Global Justice softly explained,

"In the space of one minute, an orbital attack destroyed Japan to the point where 420 inhabited islands were annihilated, and now only open ocean remains. One hundred twenty-five million people were killed, including yourself, your husband, your sons."

"My Kimmy?" the question was nearly a sob.

"She and Ronald were killed a day later when they created a black hole to destroy the alien fleet, protecting the Earth from further attack," said Dr. Director, not mentioning the vengeance the pair wreaked on the killers.

"Anne-sensei," Subira wiped her eyes and with the sheer force of will, brought her emotions under control, "We are here to prevent that from happening! There are two other things we must address. First, your sons under the watchful eye of a Yamanouchi Ninja worked for the Yakuza and created a morphing syntho-robot that promised to address a critical problem that Japan has: the increasing need for assistance and companionship for an aging population. We must make sure that the work of Jim and Tim gets recreated."

Nana had been rummaging in cabinets and placed small tumblers on the table along with an amber bottle. The bottle's label read "The Hakushu, aged 25 years."

Pouring about three fingers into each glass, the elder Possible passed out the drinks.

"Mom?" Anne thought that it was an odd time to start sipping single malt.

"In honor of Japan and the people who will not die this time, dear. Plus the rest of Subira's story goes better with a dram or twenty."

Subira picked up her glass, raised it in salute to Nana and simply said, "Domo."

Setting her glass down the School of Enlightenment's administrator continued, "Dr. Drakken infected your husband James with an artificial virus that slowly drove him mad. The unintended result of this madness was the completion of a device that could take humanity to the stars as well as provide a planetary defense against asteroid strikes and kinetic weapons like the ones that destroyed Japan. During this period, he became increasingly fixated with making sure that Kimberly had a better boyfriend than Ronald. He created an advanced synthodrone to seduce either Ronald or Kimberly," when Anne raised an eyebrow at that and took a sip from her glass, Subira continued, "remember that the virus had seriously messed with his reasoning. The reason we believe that James can recreate his work is that the synthodrone he created, Erica, has a copy of all his computer files from the Space Center, all of your sons' computer files and copies of the discussions he had with Dr. Drakken and Shego. Those discussions might be of limited use because we only hear his side."

"Dr. Possible can speak to the dead?" Warbyrd asked. She swapped her tumbler for a more substantial 'glass worth drinking out of' and retrieved a bottle of Glenfiddich from the cupboard.

"No, not to the best of my knowledge. He was hallucinating by then."

"Is the synthodrone here?" Anne asked, there was no slur in her voice, but she was looking a little flushed.

'Baka!' Subira realized that she hadn't been paying attention to how much the surgeon was drinking and that Nana had been refreshing everyone's tumblers.

"Yes, she is Anne-sensei."

"I want to see this Dutch wife my husband made, please and thank you."

Subira raised her voice and spoke to the ceiling, "Bishop, ask Erica to come to the South meeting room, please." An answering chime signaled that the house A.I., designed by Dr. Slim Possible, acknowledged the command. Turning her attention back to the surgeon and more importantly the wife of the synthodrone creator, she explained,

"Anne-sensei, the analysis of your husband's design notes show that he modified the original body to match the most perfect, desirable woman imaginable to him: You. In fact, he had a small break down when he realized that this model of a perfect woman couldn't be used for any evil purpose; that he had failed at being an evil mad scientist. You must remember that your James is not James from Erica's timeline."

Anne looked up to see a young woman, maybe 20 years old at most, step into the room. It was like looking into a mirror.

"Hello Anne, I am glad to see you again."

"Is it true that you were created to seduce Ronald Stoppable, but James couldn't issue the command."

"Correct, he felt that Ronald was not worthy of you. Well, worthy of me, but in his mind, he was thinking of you."

Anne turned to address Nana, "Mom, when were you planning on bringing in James, Jim, and Tim on this?"

"If you approve, since you know your boys the best, I thought we would invite them up tomorrow," the elderly woman said, not liking the look in her daughter-in-law's eyes. "we could conceal this information from James indefinitely, from Jim and Tim, maybe two weeks."

Anne picked up her phone and started typing a text message, "Monday is a holiday. I'll tell that James to come up tonight. I'll have Hiero bring the boys up early afternoon tomorrow. Does that sound, OK?

Subira thought for a second, "Let me have Ichiro drive you home tonight, that way you can sleep the rest of the night with James, talk to him privately in the morning and have Hiero drive everyone here in time for breakfast. You may tell him anything that you believe to be prudent."

"Can I borrow Erica for tonight?"

"Certainly. Just remember that your James is not the same James that built Erica."

"I know that. Let me send James a text telling him not to wait up, and I'll be ready to go."

Five minutes later, Anne tossed down the rest of her drink and followed Ichiro out the door walking beside Erica chatting to the synthodrone like a new best friend.

"That can't be good," Dr. Director commented.

"Not a problem, Hiero is at the Possibles, he will ensure no blood will be spilled," Subira double-checked the text message she had written and hit send.

**Finite Middletons (physical location: N/A, Yamanouchi Meditation Meadow Koi Pond, ?:? ?)**

Yori stopped by a bench next to a small pond. The pond had a sprinkling of water lilies floating on it, and they saw the shadows of several koi swimming around.

"This is a nice, peaceful spot," commented Kim, "it looks authentic."

"It was created over the years by people as a place for meditation and private conversations," Yori replied, "This bench is my addition."

"It needs a fish food dispenser," pointed out Ron, "you know, the thing that gives you some fish food pellets when you turn the knob?"

"Can you imagine it strongly enough to make one appear?" the student kunoichi asked, "That's how I made a bench. It was hard, and took me many attempts."

"I think we would need training and practice to get anywhere close to that…" Kim started but stopped seeing that Ron was standing with eyes closed, his face was a study of grim concentration. Rufus had climbed up and was sitting on Ron's shoulder.

Yori looked at her guests. The small animal seemed to be sitting in a sort of rat-lotus position and was glowing blue. The boy whose shoulder he was sitting on was almost concentrating with thin blue wisps dancing over his body. The redhead looked startled as if she had never seen this before. Then the small animal wobbled and fell off his shoulder perch. The girl, showing fast reflexes, reached out and gently caught it before it was halfway to the ground.

The instant the little animal touched Kim's hand, there was a blue flash as if mystical lightning had struck the three, effectively breaking any concentration. The two teens wobbled, and Yori quickly maneuvered them to a sitting position on the bench.

On the ground where they had been standing was a small canister that was boldly and colorfully labeled "Smarty Mart Smart Koi Pellets."

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

ST103, CB73, and Daccu65 have spent a lot of time helping me with the plot, editing, and such. Thanks, guys!

A/N. I often have my Yamanouchi Ninja claim that "_True Ninjas exist for three reasons: to Protect Family, to Protect Neighbors, to Protect Community_." I got that from this quote from Wilhelm, Thomas. Ninja Hacking: Unconventional Penetration Testing Tactics and Techniques, Elsevier Science:

_The ethics of the ancient ninja was voiced by grandmaster Toshitsugu Takamatsu, in which he said that __"family, community, homeland, and 'appropriateness' determine when a ninja should act, not power, money, political obligation, or thrill of violence and adventure."_

I have misquoted it in the past and will correct it going forward.


	13. Future meets Past part 2

**Finite Middletons (physical location: N/A, Yamanouchi Meditation Meadow, ?:? ?)**

"It was going to be a disaster. I didn't know the routine, couldn't perform the moves, yet there I was, leading the team in front of a packed gym. So, Kim, in my body, stepped in, hip-checked me out of the cheer formation, and then proceeded to lead the team to a winning performance. Unfortunately, when I got my body back later that day, it was worse for the wear. The full splits at the end of the performance stretched muscles that I never knew I had, and because those splits went all the way to the floor, well, let's say that I didn't show her how to properly adjust the protective cup she was wearing on my body…"

"Ee!? Maji de?" the laughter in the Japanese girl's eyes let them guess the translation: Something along the lines of "Whaaat!? You're joking, right?" My Japanese translator claims, "It's the most Japanese girl thing possible to say LOL. Suuuuch a common phrase."

"I admitted it, I didn't properly stretch out, and the cup I normally wear fits differently. I apologized for it and even brought ice for Ron's bruised parts." The redhead pointed out.

"Yeah, we're all good on that Kim, after all, you weren't expecting to perform." Ron preened a tiny bit, "In the end, it was just a bit of mission strain and bruises; just another day in the life of Ron Stoppable, member of Team Possible." Kim saw that Yori looked at Ron with amusement and maybe... interest? Well, Kim figured to keep the tale going, perhaps something more normal…

"Ronnie was so pleased with the refreshing breeze he felt wearing my cheerleader skirt, that he decided to research the Celtic Kilt for general and mission wear."

The teens were sitting on the ground; the bench was used as a table and was currently covered in Tex-Mex treats. They had paused, telling Yori about their MMP experiences to bring in some Bueno Nacho food, riding high on their success in producing the container of fish food. Again, Ron and Rufus seemed to do the bulk of the work, but Kim seemed to be the required trigger. To avoid straining any "mystical muscles," they made three "productions," first a set of drinks, then a platter of tacos (a mix of crunchy and soft), and last to appear was four small containers of deluxe nachos. Rufus was disappointed that the nachos weren't grande-sized, but while none of them felt physically tired, they all felt tapped out somehow.

Ron, lacking the flexibility of the two women, had changed from kneeling to sitting cross-legged. At the mention of Ron's kilt, Yori took a close look at it. She noticed a little ferret face on Ron's boxers peeking out under the edge of the fabric.

"Is it not customary for true Scotsmen to wear nothing under their kilts?" their young ninja host asked.

"There is some basis in that historically," Ron explained. "The short or walking kilt that was the ancestor of the one I am wearing started becoming popular in the middle of the 1700s. Wearing underwear at all wouldn't start to happen for another hundred years or so, at least. Years later, for women, at least in Europe. For me, I tend to have clothing malfunctions that make dressing "regimental" problematic. The tailor that made this for me put in a note telling me that underwear or even shorts would be a good idea for cases like working on ladders, sitting on low couches, anywhere I would not want my grandma to see my "twig and berries." The breeze is still refreshing, even with boxers on underneath. As for what a true Scotsman wears under his kilt, well, I only know one, and I'm not asking him."

"Too polite, Stoppable-san?"

"Nah, he's cranky, and he has exploding balls."

Kim choked on a corn chip that tried to go down the wrong way.

"Ron!" she gasped out between coughs. Rufus pushed a drink cup into her hand so she could get a drink. "More words, please and thank you."

"Golf balls! The man calls himself the world's deadliest golfer; his golf balls are explosive," Ron added, "Geez, Kim, what did you think I meant?"

Several cherry blossom petals blew past on a sudden breeze. The chip laden with cheese and jalapeno that Ron was gesturing with disintegrated into yellow dust. "Oh. man," complained Ron with an echoing complaint from his clothing challenged friend, "we barely got a taste!"

"Ron," his red-haired companion pointed out, "we just had pizza a couple of hours ago…"

"But that was in a different reality. It doesn't count."

"It was, as you say, a different reality," their ninja host pointed out. The young Japanese woman could still taste the toasted cornmeal from the chip, the spiciness plus the creamy mouthfeel of the queso, remember the sound of the crunch from the shattering chip, "but to pull or even copy a food item with such accuracy from an actual reality into a mystical realm like this where we can taste it is, well, unheard of."

"Have you tried?" squeaked a tiny voice. The molerat gave a sigh totally out of proportion to his small size as a breeze blew away yellow dust, the only remains of his Tex-Mex treat.

The breeze continued, as the cherry blossom petals swirled around them, the meadow started to fade.

* * *

"Yori… Yoriko," the headmaster corrected himself, "I cannot truly apologize for actions that another Master Sensei took, but I do understand why that man cast you off the Mountain, and I feel that he was correct."

"I understand, Master," the young student of another, long-dead headmaster, now fully grown into a woman, "I was incredibly hurt that you rejected my efforts to die alongside you and my school. I believed that was the path of my honor, and you denied it."

"And what do you believe now?" This headmaster had the same melodious voice of her long-dead headmaster, the subtle delighted undertones of a teacher who knows his student is about to show their understanding of a valuable lesson.

"I believe that headmaster put me in a place where I can once again stand against the destruction of you and this school. Except this time, we will not fail."

"I am reminded of a conversation earlier tonight where I asked my Yori what Tōgai Sensei says about having Pride…"

"Master," Yoriko pointed out quite reasonably, "this is not pride, either I and my charges succeed or this time I die in your defense and the defense of our schools. Either way is a victory of sorts." Pausing, she smiled and continued, "My Tōgai Sensei would tell me to "Thank the Kami that I am Ninja and not Shaolin because pride is considered a failure to a Buddhist monk."

"Please consider that you have more to protect and nurture than you had before."

Putting her hand on her abdomen, she replied, "I will." Both headmasters noted the small frown on the Ninja's face, apparently, Yoriko hadn't thoroughly thought out the consequences of her condition.

"Mistress Sensei," the headmaster addressed his former student and current, well, perhaps not an equal, but indeed a colleague, "We need to talk in person. Perhaps this is a good time for me to come to visit the new Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment. Maybe even plan on an exchange program for certain students."

The headmaster grew serious, "But I will not punish Fukushima until he does something worthy of it. He is not your Fukushima. We will be alert, but that is all."

Wendy sighed, "You are correct. Still, I would like to have an hour alone with him."

Seeing that the breeze was swirling cherry blossom petals around them, she quickly finished, "We will be in touch about the details for a face to face meeting, Master Sensei. As the meadow started to fade, both women gave their surprised old master a quick hug."

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment on Mount Middleton. 2:30 AM)**

A dark red club cab pickup was parked at the curb where Anne walked with Erica. The cool breeze felt good on Anne's alcohol flushed face. Tonight's meeting had been a night of disturbing revelations for the surgeon whose dreams of raising successful children, maybe even a grandchild or three, were crushed by the prediction of killing, death, and destruction. Yet buried in all the misery, murder, and failure was the story of her husband, James, who even driven mad by fever, considered her a goddess among women. She clung to that as one example that maybe things were not all certain doom. Hiero and Yoriko would make sure that Kimmy was not pushed to kill as a last resort, and Erica carried the data that would help James defend the planet, as well as the designs that her sons could use to invigorate a nation.

"Anne-sensei, Erica-san, ready for a moonlight drive back home?" their ninja escort opened the door for them.

"Ichiro-san, sorry to keep you from your bed. Thank you for seeing us safely to ours."

"Not at all, Sensei, Hiero will have a frozen brainloaf waiting for when I arrive. That is more than sufficient payment."

Anne climbed in the cab, giggling at the thought of using frozen brainloaf as currency, perhaps all the alcohol hadn't burned through her system yet.

After seeing that his passengers were safely buckled in, the middle-aged Ninja drove off down deserted roads back to Middleton.

"Erica, are you waterproof?" Anne asked.

"Yes, I am. There are no openings in this body below the neck. I am slightly too heavy to float, however."

"That's fine. I was wondering how to introduce you to James," Anne started to reach out to touch the synthodrone, "May I touch you?"

"Certainly, you will find that I am reasonably realistic in skin temperature, texture, and softness unless you press too hard. My internal structures give me a sort of muscular 'hard body' feel," Erica examined the woman her design was based on with a careful electric blue gaze, "I have observed that James often came to less than optimal conclusions when working while tired and flushed, although you don't seem to have a fever. Perhaps you should wait until you are rested to decide on what to do."

"That is an excellent idea," replied the surgeon. 'We could all use some rest,' she giggled to herself.

**Finite Middletons (Yamanouchi, Japan. Master Sensei's study, 2:45 PM)**

Yori poured them both tall glasses of cold water with a slice of fruit. Any but the shortest of mystical meetings tended to dry out the participants, and this meeting was longer than most. Setting the glasses on the table along with a tray of onigiri rice balls, she sat and waited for the headmaster to begin.

Politely taking a sip of his drink and a nibble of a rice ball so that his student would start eating, he said,

"I think that we need to take a contingent to Middleton to investigate this school. We need a team for investigating, not combat. Who would you take to accompany a core team of myself, Sensei Tōgai and physician's assistant Kamiko? And why did you pick who you picked?"

Yori took a sip of water to collect her thoughts. The was, after all, not idle speculation, but a test.

"Team Cobra. I know it's not an official team and not a full team, but to investigate a school of teenagers makes a team of teenagers attractive, and Hirotaka, Fukushima, Wendy, Suzie, and I are very capable in a wide range of skills. There has been some talk of sending Team Orange to Mexico for advanced training. They could travel there now and be the on-call backup for us should an emergency arise."

"What problems would swapping out Fukushima with Cullen Katsumi cause?"

Yori stalled by taking another sip, totally surprised by the remark.

"Fukushima dislikes American culture and would be glad enough to skip this opportunity, that's not a problem. I don't know Cullen Katsumi well, only as an underclassman that I have seen on various non-combat duties. Katsumi-kun is more comfortable with a computer keyboard than a shuriken or war fan and is a bit too young to go undercover at a high school."

"Your team is acceptable if you swap out Fukushima with Katsumi. I commend your caution and your desire to keep a pair of old masters safe from harm, but I was not exaggerating when I told you that I'd rather have you and your war fans at my side than a dozen Ninja-like Fukushima with swords. I fear that Fukushima has a price on his head in America and honor requires Katsumi to appear in Middleton."

"So," the headmaster sighed, "Neither Ron Stoppable or Kim Possible turned out to be the Chosen One?"

"No, the amount of Mystical energies available to those three is staggering, but the Chosen One was with you all the time…"

The student, astonished that the master missed something so obvious, blurted out,

"The child carried by the Ninja accompanying their Mistress Sensei - that child is the Chosen One."

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment on Mount Middleton, 2:45 AM)**

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" the blonde managed to stand on uncooperative legs that felt covered in pins and needles, but would have fallen if Yoriko hadn't stepped up and put her arms around him, "How do you guys not have your legs go to sleep when kneeling for that long?"

"Perhaps women have more flexibility," said an amused Yoriko, "or perhaps we need to teach you how to move your body in small amounts even while in a trance."

Kim, being held steady by Wanda as feeling flowed back into her legs, found herself fixated on the amused but tolerant smile that her best friend's caretaker was giving him. She had seen that smile before, recently…

"You're Yori, right?" the redhead blurted out, "The girl we met in the meadow tonight!"

"The girl you met tonight is from this timeline. I'm not that Yori as my experiences do not match hers if for no other reason than the other years I have lived. Is that a problem, Kimberly?" The Ninja started moving her charge over to a couch to sit while recovering.

"The only problem I see is that there are too many girls named Yori smiling at MY RON," Kim growled under her breath, then thought, 'Wait, what? he's my best friend, but calling him my Ron is a bit much.'

Her thoughts were interrupted by Subira and the alien coming into the room. Subira carried a platter with sports drinks, cheese sticks, and chocolate chip cookies while the alien wearing a tee-shirt emblazoned with a cartoon cake, and the words "Eat Me" carried a six-pack of beer. He pulled off a beer and tossed the remaining five to Wanda. The headmistress smoothly spun Kimberly around and pushed her gently onto a couch while gently catching the remaining beers in her free hand.

"Miss Possible, you must be wary of strange thoughts and feelings," he said in a voice reminiscent of the rustle of dried leaves. He opened his beer and took a sip. In a voice that now had a little melody to it, he continued, "the time stream, like a real steam, has a preferred path to flow. If you move the stream, it will sometimes try to move back to its old bed. I can see that you bumped up against it tonight. Ignore any strange thoughts or feelings. They might be from another variation of the timeline and might not be valid in this one. Or they could be premature echoes of the future."

"You can see the time stream?" she asked.

"No, but there are particles generated when the time stream is trying to move to another path. I can feel them on you." Gray said.

"Time cooties," said Rufus, scratching his neck.

Kim took a moment to absorb what she had just heard. Finally, she turned to her mentor. "Yoriko, just how well did you know Ron? The Ron in your timeline that is?"

Yoriko considered the question.

"It's not fair to ask me to compare the two versions of Ron. The Ron I knew as Yori was a high school student just as I was. He was blonde, cute, and funny; to a Japanese girl that is unusual and very desirable. I met him as an exchange student, and we ran a couple of successful missions together. He even saved my life. At one time, I had thought he would be a good boyfriend, but the stars had other plans."

She gave Ron, who she was still holding whether he needed it or not, a slight squeeze, "This Ron is a young man that I helped raise. My heart belongs to another, yet a small piece of that my heart belongs to him, you, and even Rufus. Yesterday I would have said honestly that I would gladly give my life to protect any of you, but Master Sensei reminded me that my life is no longer mine to spend freely, but I must also consider my unborn child. But sit and drink to rehydrate. A light snack would also be wise."

"Cheese!" cheered Rufus snagging a cheese stick from the plate.

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, Possible Home, Master Bedroom, Next Morning)**

James woke from an intense dream. One of those dreams where you immediately forgot details, but remember general impressions.

"That an adorable picture. I'd put that in the art category," Anne said, laying against his side with his left arm wrapped around her.

"It is. James was very proud of it." a younger Anne replied, using his stomach as a pillow and holding his right hand in both of hers.

'OK. not awake yet,' James thought, opening his eyes. Projected on the ceiling was a picture of Anne sleeping mostly on her back. The moonlight coming from the window gave her an ethereal, almost angelic glow to her skin. Her nightshirt had come open, exposing a feminine chest that added a breathtaking beauty to the scene.

"Good morning, honey," the Anne in his arm pulled herself up to kiss him. A slow, sweet kiss, that celebrated the past and held promise for the future. A kiss that kept James's brain temporarily in reset.

"I want you to meet someone. This is Erica. Erica, this is **my** James."

The woman using him for a pillow rolled over and looked at him with a cool, electric blue gaze coming from a face that he had seen many times in his dreams.

"Good morning Dr. Possible," she said, taking his hand and pressing it to her chest.

'Something is wrong,' his rebooting brain struggled to say. It wasn't that he woke to find himself in bed with two beautiful women, one who appeared to be his wife and the other a younger duplicate of the only woman he had given his heart to. No, the younger woman wasn't right somehow...

"Honey!" Anne protested as her husband sat up, dumping her back on the bed. She watched as he pushed Erica onto her back and put his head on her chest. Fascinated, she watched him listen for a moment and then was annoyed to see him push up the synthodrone's nightshirt and lick her stomach.

"James!" Anne growled at the display and then squeaked as her husband turned and pounced on her, pushing her down as he raised her nightshirt to allow him to give her stomach a slower, more sensuous lick, finally ending up at her lips.

After being well and thoroughly kissed, Anne heard him say,

"How did you get Drew Lipsky to make a robotic copy of you?"

Dazed, Anne murmured, "What?"

"No heartbeat, but I hear a rotatory piston pump. Its skin doesn't taste like human skin, although it smells like you, Drew has stepped up his game."

Anne was amused by her engineer. Dropping her hand into his lap, she discovered that his enormous technical curiosity was in direct competition to other, equally large but more primal desires.

"Erica, please go downstairs and introduce yourself to **my** Jim and Tim. James and I will join you shortly," Anne reached down and grabbed the hem of her shirt. Pulling it off in one smooth motion, she looked in her husband's eyes, "Since I expect you to be closely studying the copy, perhaps you should refresh your memory of the original."

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, Possible Home, Breakfast Table, Next Day)**

"Erica, it's good to see you again," Hiero put down a plate with sliced fruit in front of Jim and Tim. Walking over to the counter, he pulled an extension cord out of a drawer. He plugged in one end and holding the other out, said, "Have some breakfast. May I present Jim and Tim Possible? Jim, Tim, this is Erica. She's a friend."

The synthodrone took the cord and reaching under her shirt, appeared to plug it in.

The artificial woman looked at the twins, made oddly mute by the presence of a younger mom that needed a recharge.

"It's good to see you again, my bouyatachi. This time we will not fail."

**Author's notes**

I fear that my posting of new chapters may be erratic for some time. An old person (I'm 62) with Parkinson's and a UTI can be a real mess. Sepsis (blood poisoning), Parkinson's symptoms gone wild, hallucinations and delusions. In my case, I had a couple of weeks of physical therapy just to barely walk again. Plus this brought some marital issues to the breaking point. I still write an hour or two on most days, but they are notes to my counselor instead of chapters for a story.

I have several parts of future chapters written, and I plan to use a hallucination to drive the story seriously off the rails at one point.

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

ST103, CB73, and Daccu65 have always been and I hope will continue to help with story ideas. Thanks guys!


	14. Catching up on Crystal, Shim and Shon

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, Possible Home, Master Bedroom, Saturday after meeting with Yamanouchi, 12:45 PM)**

"Like a waffle dear?" James pulled off the cover of a platter of still steaming waffles.

Anne blinked and looked at the bedside clock. She must have fallen asleep after giving her husband a thorough hands-on review of the body that was the pattern for Erica.

"What's everyone doing?" she asked, sitting up against the headboard, "Aren't we late for a meeting with Nana and the others?"

"Mom said you packed away a lot of Japanese whiskey last night and to let you sleep. There was a conference call this morning between Erica, Hiero, and the monastery. They all thought it was best to make sure the data Erica is carrying is still intact and to have Slim and the boys start looking at the designs she carries. Mistress Sensei and Mom both figure that there isn't a lot for you and me to do until we all meet in person with the folk from Yamanouchi. Hiero and Erica are off currently meeting with Vivian Porter," James explained, putting a lap table on the bed.

"Vivian?"

"Yeah, Erica is carrying a copy of Dr. Porter's computer files, in particular the files that controlled the artificial intelligence subsystems of the boys' last prototype," James explained as he poured his love some coffee.

Anne listened for a moment, then asked, "It's too quiet. Where are the kids?"

"Kimmie-cub is catching up on all our laundry," then seeing the panicked expression on her face, quickly added, "Ronald is helping her, so we won't all have pink underwear. The boys are packing for a trip to Slim's ranch. They will do their preliminary work at the ranch. Hiero will drive them there tonight.

"I guess we should write a note as to why Tim and Jim will be out of school for a while?" Anne took a bite of waffle and noticed that the plate also had bacon and scrambled eggs.

"The boys said that their homework would be turned in on time, they'd be marked as 'present' and that the school wouldn't miss them," James poured coffee for himself, then paused, looking a little confused and concerned, "Should we worry about that?"

"Probably. But since we need to take them to Japan soon, I figure that we can ignore it for now," Anne took a bite of bacon.

"We can't go until after the annual Rocket Boosters open house in three weeks. Kimmie-cub would be devastated to miss it…"

Anne started to correct her husband, but her man was on a roll and she was happy for the moment not to have a dozen tasks bearing down on her. After taking a sip of coffee, she asked,

"So Doctor Possible, what's on the schedule for today?"

James smiled, "Why Doctor Possible, I thought maybe a shower, a walk in the park and maybe dinner at Blob's Park West."

"Polka Dancing?" she asked, "Are you serious?"

"I won't tell Kimmie-Cub if you don't," James replied.

"I won't tell if you scrub my back. I'll scrub yours," his redhead suggested.

"I'll go turn on the shower…"

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, Possible Home, Living Room, Saturday after meeting with Yamanouchi, 4:15 PM)**

"Well, we're off and will be back late tonight, so why don't you spend the night at Ronald's. In fact, if you are going to come back home tonight, send us a text, OK?"

"Sure daddy," Kim answered, "Where are you and Mom going?" The request didn't make sense. Jim and Tim had left a few minutes ago with Hiero on their way to their Uncle Slim's ranch. Surely they weren't worried about her being in the house alone at night?

"Honey, don't ask a question that you don't want to hear the answer to, " grinned Anne, "We aren't worried about you, we just don't want to wake you up when we get home."

"Okay…" Kim looked at her parents, they were dressed neatly, her mom was wearing a skirt, the kind that would flair out when you spun. Their shoes were dressy, but comfortable like you would wear dancing…

Giving a visible shudder while muttering 'folk dancing' just to tease her parents a little, she gave them a hug and sent them on their way.

"So, KP, are we alone at last?" Ron gave her a goofy grin, the grin that seemed to be getting rarer these days.

"Looks that way," Kim smiled. She thought that she should really arrange for them to have a designated Kim/Ron day. Lately, it seemed like random circumstances seemed to pop up to keep them separated or distracted. Her musing was interrupted when Ron's cellphone rang.

"Hey, Crystal, what's up?"

**Finite Middletons (A random place in a stagnant pool at a bend of the time stream, Bueno Nacho, Some meaningless point in time)**

The Mystical Monkey Monk placed three baskets, each containing one order of Nachos Supreme onto a tray. Pausing at the soda machine, he placed three Slurpster sized drinks, one iced green tea, one unsweetened orange pekoe tea, and one diet cola alongside the nachos and took the tray onto the patio and sat at a table to wait.

Triple-M, as he thought of himself, was the definition of patience itself. He was a creature of the time stream as all creatures of prophecy had to be. He repeatedly spent large amounts of time just waiting around to tell yet another hero that the time of gaining the Mystical Monkey Power was upon them, which taught patience.

His current task was sheer excitement compared to that. He had stumbled into consciousness at the most opportune time. He met a pair of, well, none of his known mythologies had a name for them, they called themselves shoulder-angels and their function was to act as a guide to the mortals they were bound to. Kim Possible's shoulder angel referred to herself as "Shim" and Ron's was "Shon."

Investigating the new and obviously artificial time loop, he was intrigued by the effort those trapped within it were exerting to straighten out the time stream for the foreseeable future. Deciding to help, he grabbed the creatures called Shim and Shon to have them investigate broken segments decaying in eddies to make them better to advise their human clients.

He had no concept for how long his 'students' had been surfing the stream because inside the time stream, time is fluid and hard to measure. But there is always a beginning and an end; the end was rapidly approaching as the next hero had discovered the location of the golden banana and would soon have it on its golden stand. The Monk would have to travel to that reality to be ready to tell this hero that his greatness was at hand. At the same time, without his anchoring them, Shim and Shon would snap back to the reality they came from.

A blonde-haired young man rode up to the Bueno Nacho with a red-haired companion whose arms were wrapped around his middle tighter than strictly necessary. As he held the scooter upright, she dismounted, carefully swinging her leg over the rocket engines exhaust nozzles, softly glowing from heat even though her partner hadn't been rushing to get here. Standing up by a table on the patio, a monk in robes and adorned in coins waved them over.

"Shim, Shon," the Mystical Monkey Monk called, "Over here, I have nachos and drinks waiting for you. How was your exploration? Did you find out what happened to the original timeline?"

The pair walked over and sat with the monk at a table under a large umbrella. Looking around, it appeared as if a wall of fog surrounded a bubble of clear air. There were maybe fifty feet of apparent 'reality' ending at the wall of fog. When they had been here before, reality stretched as far as the eye could see.

Apparently, Triple-M did not carry the same charge of mystical energy that the real Kim, Ron, or Rufus did. The same limit on their bubbles of reality had hampered them in searching through the discarded remnants of discarded time threads, washed up in stagnant areas of the time stream.

Still, the drinks were cold, and the nachos were warm. As the blond took a sip of his Slurpster, the redhead spoke.

"No, master," she said, "We were unable to find the correct thread in the backwash of the time stream. The ones we found were awful."

"Yeah," the blond added, "in the last thread we looked in, Shego was trying to destroy KP and me by making everyone hate us. Drakken had gone insane and was preparing to destroy the entire planet."

"You managed to win in the end, did you not?" asked the monk.

"It wasn't us that saved the world, this time," she numbly replied.

"It was Tina and Tara, they paid with their lives," the boy spoke softly, his mind flashing images of Justine's charred body, burned beyond recognition by an energy discharge. The blonde genius had realized that Drakken's out of control energy bubble was about to expand and kill a lot of people. She, without hesitation, had shorted it to ground using her body as a lightning rod. Her sacrifice had only delayed the danger. He choked back a sob thinking of Tara's family, who didn't even have a body to bury. The perpetually cheerful young woman hijacked a JG hoverjet. Her plan was to crash it into the bubble, ejecting at the last moment. She was partially successful, allowing much of the built-up energy to vent into the sky. Unfortunately, she was caught in the energy stream while attempting to parachute to safety.

"Surely there was a path where you two were successful, wasn't the Mystical Monkey Power of any help in any of these timelines?"

"There was this thread where I defeated an alien attack using it, but I so was fixated on keeping a damned promise to keep everything a secret that I erased some of KP's memories and replaced other ones. I wanted her to get the credit for the win." the blond looked at his partner and cringed.

"Yeah, but he didn't do a perfect job, then he refused to follow me to Europe for school. I start having dreams about what really happened, became convinced I was going insane and cut myself off from everyone, including Ron. Then Brain-Manipulator Boy here decides that I have rejected him and disappears along with Rufus and his family. When I finally find out what happened, I go looking for him, but when anybody that knows that I still love him tries to tell him that, he sticks his fingers in his ears and runs off screaming, La, la, la, not listening! Don't want to hear about her new perfect boyfriend! Idiot." She scowled at her partner.

"Did that one turn out OK in the end?" asked the monk.

"Don't know; we got tired of watching Ron avoid me." the redhead snarked.

"That was still better than the time you shot me in the head!" protested the young man. "On purpose!" he added.

"You shot him?" the monk was shocked, "in the head?" finally blurting out, "on purpose?"

"Hey, this whacked-out ninja guy, Mr. F-something, had brainwashed me using drugs provided by some geneticist! Besides, it was only a flesh wound, he got better!"

"How did that one end?" the monk was starting to think that all the young heroes' possible timelines were doomed.

"I came back, found her, and we got married. Had kids, in fact, all our friends were getting married and having kids. We gave up on that timeline because we were getting tired of going to weddings and baby showers all the time," he added with some pride, "Yup, the Ronster really kicked butt and cooked in that one!"

"So you didn't learn anything of use to your Kim and Ron in searching discarded timelines?" the monk sighed and popped a cheese-laden chip into his mouth.

The redhead reached for another chip while saying, "We learned the IRS is the equivalent of at least half my forms of Kung Fu in raw destructive force."

"Yup," the boy grinned, "one time I called the IRS and told them about Drakken's not reporting payments he was getting for carving company logos on the moon and in another one, 'someone' told them about all the favors Kim is getting from people she helped. The IRS decided that was advanced bartering if not outright money laundering and gave her a considerable tax bill. That shut down Team Possible."

Putting her face in her hands, "We can definitely tell them that the IRS is too terrible a weapon to use. It also makes no distinction between good heroes and evil supervillains."

"is it just me or is our bubble of reality getting smaller? the blond looked a little nervous, "I'm not sure how real we are, I don't think we can afford to lose any."

"The Golden Banana has been located and will be put on its stand in the near future," said the Mystical Monkey Monk, "I must leave when that happens, and my absence will cause you to return to your timeline. Maybe something you have seen will help your true selves back in your home timeline. You might have time to investigate one or two additional time eddies. Try to get lucky."

* * *

"OK if I drive?" the redhead swung into the seat careful not to kick her BF who was kneeling at the back of the little vehicle checking to make sure the rockets had mystically refueled themselves and the heat cracks in the engine mounts had vanished.

"Sure, I'd be happy to sit behind you and wrap my arms around you," he tried a lascivious grin, but it looked like he just had an attack of intestinal gas to her.

"OK, lover boy, I've got another time to look at so just hold on… and Ron?"

"Yeah KP?"

"This might be the last time your fingers get to be Roman if you know what I mean."

"Veni, Vidi, molesti, KP," he murmured, dancing his fingers around the waistband of her cargoes,

Shim laughed, "Yes, sometimes you are a little disturbed," as the rocket engines ignited with a soft roar.

"Not disturbed, just lucky-eeeeeeeee," Shon yelled as his girlfriend twisted her throttle-grip all the way to the max-thrust detent and then a little farther to engage afterburner mode.

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, S****tamos Home, Crystal is preparing to go to Ron's house and thinking of a mission they went on, Saturday after meeting with Yamanouchi, 4:45 PM)**

Crystal really liked Ron. She was even thinking perhaps graduating to "like-like," but she was cautious about dating and romance (ever since the dating fiasco with Ramone Roth. Don't ask. Seriously, just don't.)

Crystal had been secretly dating Ron for over a month. The secret was that Ron apparently didn't know they were dating. They met before school for running and sparring under the watchful eye of Yoriko Tanaka, Ron's trainer, and the live-in assistant to the Stoppables. They had gone to four movies, met at the mall several times for dinner and video games. She and Ron were scheduled for a late dinner and an even later movie that evening. She had planned to clue the clueless blond in on their dating situation and maybe do a little making out in the dark theater, but Ron found her between classes and said that he couldn't make it, that he had to help make a delivery to a disaster area and would be gone for a couple of days.

She never knew why she asked the question, it seemed like a good idea at the time, a question that any good-hearted young woman would naturally ask. A question that was now posted on the wall in the MHS girls locker room under the heading of "Things to never, ever say to Ron Stoppable."

**"Can I help?"**

Twenty-four hours later, she had asked teachers for assignments she expected to miss, made an emergency run to Club Banana for boots, long skirts, conservative long-sleeved tops, and headscarves and now was racing across the Atlantic riding in a colorful giant cargo airship piloted by a crazy Scotsman and his niece. The airship was carrying seventeen tons of transformers and generator parts along with her, Ron, Kim, Rufus, and Raider Costa Sideris from the Delta Raider Squadron (Greek Special Forces).

The mission involved the delivery of generator parts to a small town in the middle of nowhere in Yemen. At least Ron and Kim said it was Yemen. From the air, it looked like some desolate alien planet, just dirt and rocks with the only green found in canyons that looked like they had been carved into the desert by long-gone ancient rivers. She had returned from that trip resolved to study world history and international politics because something was seriously screwed up with that part of the world. The report was that an earthquake had messed up the town's generators and the roads. Even though Yemen shares a border with Saudi Arabia, the parts they were delivering were purchased from a company in Canada, and a Scottish firm was hired to deliver it with the financing going through a Greek bank. There had to be severe politics and kickbacks involved. Raider Sideris was additional security and assigned to Global Justice Peacekeeping forces. Kim was not happy to hear that, but the young man was too busy flirting with Kate, Duff Killigan's niece, to talk about his job responsibilities. Or maybe he just didn't want to worry the young heroes with details. Raider Sideris was delighted to find that Crystal was a dual American/Greek citizen and even spoke a little Greek. He insisted that she would be best used acting as the bank's assistant manager trainee in charge of making sure the goods were delivered.

While she and Kim went over delivery manifests with the Raider, Ron and Rufus napped. When Crystal asked Kim if that was normal, her old cheer captain snickered and said, "Usually," but then looked thoughtfully at her snoozing partners and added, "They are worried about this mission, and want to be well-rested." After a break for a snack, Raider Sideris started an impromptu lesson on "Greek 101: How to Swear in Greek." Both young women thought that was being silly, but in the few hours they would be on the ground, both found themselves muttering "malakas" (a-hole, jerk) too many times.

Crystal was asleep, wrapped tightly in a sleeping cabin's "bed burrito" when the airship started to vibrate, waking her. Looking around, she saw little beady eyes looking at her.

"Bathroom!" squeaked Rufus, "Dress! Show-time!"

Squeezing out of the restraining safety blankets, she stopped by the tiny restroom, quickly changed into boots, a long skirt and matching top, grabbed a headscarf and with Rufus climbing onto her shoulder, walked down the passageway running the length of the ship toward the gondola. Sliding down the ladder, she saw the captain looking grimly through the windscreen and his first (and only) officer carefully examining her radar and telemetry displays.

"Kate?" asked the kilt-wearing captain.

"No radars on us, no satellites overhead, Uncle," she replied.

"Is something wrong, Captain Killigan?"

Killigan spun the airship's wheel, and the airship turned around to retrace its path.

"Call me Duff, lassie. I've na seen many earthquake-damaged areas, but I ken bombs make round craters," the explosives expert said.

"Bombs? You mean this wasn't a natural disaster? Where are Ron and Kim?" Crystal wondered if she missed something and was supposed to be somewhere else.

"Ron and Kim parachuted down with the Raider on our first pass to make sure we are expected and welcome," Kate pointed to a video display from either a drone or some sort of camera with a heck of a zoom lens. She continued, "Next time, I'll do a serious check. The money was good and there wasn't any mention of armed conflict."

Kim was standing talking to a group of men, in addition to the ones that looked like locals, there were a dozen men dressed in muted fatigues wearing a winged sword emblem on their berets. Raider Sideris had pulled a couple of those aside and were talking to them. Looking for Ron, she eventually spotted him checking the perimeter or something.

He, like Kim, was covered head to toe, but unlike Kim, instead of a dark one-piece garment, he was wearing a white Ninja uniform top and hood with a white kilt and heavy white socks going into white tabi. The odd part was that nobody seemed to be paying attention to him.

His voice was heard coming out of a speaker, "Killigan, did you know that we were coming to a freaking war zone?"

"I swear I dinnae ken it was a hot battlefield, laddie! I'd never brought the lassies into danger! Betty Director herself said that the mere presence of you and Kimberly would make the parties think twice about messing with the delivery of these goods."

"OK, well, we're here, so let's just dump and scoot. Set down in the parking lot, they've got the craters filled in with gravel with steel plates on top. You are two weeks sooner than anyone expected you to get here, I'm hoping that's a good thing. Popping a smoke."

A small plume of green smoke appeared in the middle of the parking lot.

"Is that so we know it's the right spot or to let Captain Killigan see the wind speed and direction?" Crystal asked Kate.

"It's a little of both," replied Kate.

The tartan covered airship put down to unload next to the ruins of the old generating station. The problem in delivering tons of stuff, when a few of the items require a heavy crane to move, and the recipient doesn't have a heavy crane, is you can't just dump and scoot. Certain parts need to be placed next to, and in two cases, on top of another part.

Crystal was a natural loadmaster. Unload-mistress? She met the local engineers in the cargo bay with her clipboard with manifest and Rufus on her shoulder providing quiet commentary and the occasional translation. She quickly came up with a plan to unload everything so that the local engineers could assemble everything while at the same time, minimize the number of times the airship needed to move.

Crystal initially had difficulty in getting cooperation from the small group of young men assigned to help unload. None wanted to be told what to do by a woman, many did not want to work throughout the night. Just seeing a small redhead and a skinny white guy helping unload and move outrageously heavy equipment was enough to shame most of them into helping. Both Kim and Crystal got to use their new favorite word, "malakas." Once, she swore that Kim walked past muttering something about sucking on a body part that Crystal was confident that her former cheer captain didn't have; they had shared locker rooms. Ron intercepted an angry-looking young tough who has started to follow Kim, after all, he probably could guess what she said from her tone, not to mention that it was his actions that had set her off. He and some of his associates had also given Crystal a hard time. Sharp words followed and Ron led the tough around the corner of a building followed by two of the tough's companions. Crystal quickly finished directing two workers which containers were to be unloaded next then started to jog after her running buddy because she figured he needed backup.

"What's up?" Ron asked, coming back around the corner.

"Oh, Ron. Uh, nothing, just thought I'd check and see if you needed backup."

The blond looked surprised. "Really? Thanks. I just told those guys that American girls, particularly ones delivering parts your town needs to turn the lights back on, deserve courtesy and respect."

"Uh, thanks, I guess. You didn't cause an international incident or anything?"

"Me?" Ron grinned, "Nope, no trouble at all. They even gave me these cool souvenirs for you and Kim." Ron said, handing her a sheathed dagger, the dagger was curved, but the sheath was J shaped.

"A knife?" Crystal looked skeptically at the blade, drawing it and looking at it.

"Begum Stamas," an older man walked up, "We are ready for the transformers, if you could move the airship, please"

"OK, be right there." Crystal let Ron take the dagger back, replace it in the scabbard and tuck it into her sash, "Come on Ron, come help with the transformer."

"Yes, boss."

* * *

Once the sun went down, Ron shed all his clothes above his kilt. Several times, Crystal found herself mesmerized by the strength in his lean body and the movement of muscles and tendons moving under his pale skin glistening with sweat under the floodlights attached to the airship.

The sun was well into the sky the next morning when they had completed.

"Begum Stamas, Begum Possible," the senior power plant engineer walked up to where Kim and Crystal were doing final minute checks on the invoices.

"Your servants," he nodded to Ron and Killigan who flanked him, "tell me that you have urgent business to get to, but I beg your indulgence in stopping by my humble house to refresh yourselves and have a light meal before departing."

Kim looked at Ron who subtly nodded. Killigan just looked unhappy.

"We are pressed for time, but certainly our next clients will understand that we could not refuse such a kind and gracious offer," Kim smiled then in a stern voice commanded, "Duff, get ready to depart. Ron, follow us."

They were whisked off to baths by the engineer's daughters. Ron followed and stood by emotionless and at parade rest as the daughters helped them wash and dress in clean black robes. If Crystal wasn't so mind-numbingly exhausted, she would have said something about Ron being present. He wasn't leering at them or even looking at them, but still, it seemed odd.

While the daughters were drying their hair, Crystal heard Kim snort with laughter. Looking at Kim, she saw the redhead mouth "later." Ron insisted on putting sashes around their waist and Rufus placed their "souvenir" daggers in them.

Feeling clean and refreshed, Kim and Crystal were led to a table loaded with pastries, fruit and tea service. Ron appeared a couple of minutes later with a duffel bag with their old clothes. The girls had a pleasant half-hour listening to the engineer talk about his struggles to get the town into modern times and Kim spoke of some of her adventures. Rufus sampled pastries while Ron stood grimly off to the side in bodyguard mode.

Ron's Kimmunicator warbled a warning and there was a loud whoosh from outside.

"Mistress, time to leave." Ron had on his "serious face." It was such a serious face that the Senior Engineer skipped 99% of the standard formal farewell protocol, simply shook Kim and Crystal's hands, gave Rufus a high five and let them leave with a simple "thank you."

"Killigan, what's the stitch?", Kim asked as Ron pulled her up into the gondola. Crystal grabbed onto the redhead to steady her because as soon as Ron shut the hatch, the airship lifted straight up like an express elevator. Throughout the night, the airship had taken on the water to make up the lost weight of the equipment as it was unloaded. Killigan dumped a lot of it, giving the craft plenty of lift to spare.

"We detected airborne radar - AWACS, I think," said Kate, "Uncle fired off one of our **only two** anti-radiation missiles."

"Kate, they aren't for sitting around looking pretty, they are to be used," was the gruff reply, "Besides, we don't want to kill anyone or start a war today, that missile has zero chance to actually hitting an AWACS."

"Captain Killigan, why would you shoot a missile that you know won't hit the target?" Crystal asked.

The Scotsman laughed, "Because they don't know that or at least they aren't sure, right Kate?"

"The radar signal disappeared thirty seconds after launch and the missile won't go past them for another two minutes. I'm guessing they launched decoys and dove for the deck. By the time they get back online, we should be cruising at 65,000 feet in stealth mode."

* * *

The airship was not an SR-71. Specifically, it could not fly faster at extreme altitudes. Wade couldn't find any evidence that anyone was hunting them, he claimed that the AWACS they fired their missile at was on a training run, at least according to filed flight plans. Raider Sideris, back in the town, reported that the local engineers expected to have the power back on by noon of the next day. He and the rest of the peacekeepers would keep watch on the town and the surrounding area.

Killigan insisted on quietly slipping back to Scotland, switching to his smaller, faster, "personal" airship and from there, take the teens home.

Kate and Killigan claimed that they had taken turns napping and would continue to do so, but the teens should get some real sleep.

Kim and Crystal decided to share a double sleeper cabin. Slipping into the bed, Crystal asked,

"In the shower, you laughed and when I looked at you, you said, "Later. What was so funny?"

"Remember how the engineer called Duff and Ron, 'our servants'?"

Kim pulled the restraining covers tight, their purpose was to prevent sleepers from being thrown to the floor in case of sudden turbulence. She continued,

"Because of the way they were dressed, they assumed that Ron and Killigan were eunuchs and our personal servants."

As both girls pealed with laughter, there was a thumping on the wall and they heard Ron yell, "It's a kilt, not a skirt!"

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, Crystal has arrived at Ron's house, Saturday after meeting with Yamanouchi, 5:30 PM)**

Crystal Stamas had walked down the sidewalk past Kim Possible's house and over to the next block where Ron's house was located. She asked for a ride, but she got no sympathy from her mom, it was a bright, sunny late afternoon, not too cold, she was a track star and had been drilling in martial arts with Ron and his Kung Fu trainer most mornings before school, and it was less than a mile between their homes.

Crystal didn't believe in fate, destiny, or unicorns that farted rainbows, but sometimes she had to wonder. Take today, for example. Her mom ran into Mrs. Stoppable at the grocery store this morning. Mrs. Stoppable mentioned that Ron would be home later that afternoon, that his mission was complete. Mrs. Stamas said that Crystal's ten-year-old sister was having a massive sleepover that night. Before the shopper in front of them in the checkout line got through half her coupons, the two moms decided to cut Crystal a break by allowing her to avoid the general commotion and craziness of a house full of nine and ten-year-old girls by letting her spend the night at the Stoppable house.

Life, as usual, was busy for her and Ron both since they got back from their mission to Yemen. This would be the first chance she would have to resume her plan to "make Ron my boyfriend." That is, assuming she still wanted him that way. At the very least, she figured that she would have alone-time with him tonight to get to know Ron a little better and having seen him in mission mode would help keep him honest. Unlike Kim on a previous mission, she hadn't slept next to Ron wrapped tightly in his arms and under the safety restraining covers. Not that she would have "done" anything or that she thought that Kim had, but it would be nice to sleep cuddled up to him. She knew the Stoppables had Japanese style baths. A frisson of excitement of the thought of bathing naked with the blond ran down her spine. Crystal was a good girl by any measurement you would care to make, but bathing in this manner was close enough in her mind to "naughty" to make her feel like she was pushing a boundary. Just to make sure she didn't lose her nerve, she had not packed a bathing suit.

As she approached his house, she saw a couple unload bags of groceries from a car, wave at the driver and the car drove off.

The pair was a small slender blonde along with a huge dark-haired guy. She would have recognized the couple anywhere; it was Justine Flanner and "Big Mike Little." Justine wasn't really small, she just looked small standing next to Big Mike. Most people looked small standing next to Big Mike.

"Hi, guys!" Crystal called out, "Need any help with the bags?"

"We're fine, thanks for asking. But if you could get the door for us, Crystal, that would help," replied Mike.

The dark-haired girl noticed that Justine's face had lit up the tiniest bit when Mike said her name.

'Well,' she thought, 'no reason for Justine to know who I am by sight, and I am out of uniform after all.'

"Crystal, I need to talk to you," the blonde genius said, "I have a theory about Ron."

Going into the house, they found Jeanie Stoppable in the kitchen scrubbing potatoes alongside her husband, Gene who was slicing the scrubbed tubers into French fry slices.

"Hi kids," Ron's dad said, "Ron and Kim are up in his bedroom on a conference call with Wade and Global Justice. Seeing how neither of them looked happy when they went up to start the call, I figure it will be a while before they come down and we can start grilling."

"That's fine, Mr. Stoppable, in the meantime, Mike will put away the groceries and help start the charcoal. I need to talk to Crystal." Justine put action to words and taking her target by the hand, towed her out the door to the living room and headed to the den.

"Mike, dear," Mrs. Stoppable asked with an almost laugh, "is Justine still trying to prove that the universe will only allow Kim to be Ron's girlfriend?"

"Mrs. Stoppable," Mike said in earnest, "she's got maths and equations working to support her. I've learned not to go in against Justine when math is on the line. That's almost as well-known a blunder as getting involved…"

"In a land war in Asia," Mr. Stoppable finished the saying, with both men laughing and Mrs. Stoppable rolling her eyes.

* * *

"The Friday before last you and Ron had a date scheduled where you were planning on confessing your undying love for him, right?" Justine got directly to the point, sitting the suspect down in an armchair and standing in front of her.

"No!," Crystal claimed, "Who told you that? Besides, we don't do 'dates', we just go out and do stuff."

"You've gone out several times a week for over a month and nothing romantic happened?" the blonde investigator continued.

"That's right, Ron is clueless, he never even tried to kiss me goodnight or anything."

"So, you decided to take matters into your own hands, maybe dinner to carb-load him and then a late movie where you would take advantage of his reduced reaction time and assault him with your lips!" the interrogation was getting fierce. Or would have except that Justine got a little too much into her role-playing and was starting to snicker.

"Ok, you've got me!" the dark-haired suspect confessed with a grin. "Seriously," she continued, "I was going to ask him if he wanted to be my boyfriend. Any lip-locking assault would have been after that."

"Didn't you think it was strange that a sudden mission pops up to interfere with your plan?" Justine pulled over a chair and sat down.

"No, not really, missions just happen, right?"

"I'm not convinced. Statistically speaking, Ron should have a girlfriend. But it seems like the universe doesn't like the idea."

"The universe, really?"

"Well, something, I don't believe in an old bearded sky-patriarch controlling people's fate, leprechauns, evil witches with curses, none of that crap. But Ron seems to be really unlucky, more unlucky that can be described by random chance. For example, at one time I was betting that Ron would end up with either Jessica or Tara. Both are good friends, both were a little interested, both tried dating him, but something always came up and both ended up with boyfriends that were conveniently always available at the right time. The interference wasn't always a mission and often it was something that came up to cause Jessica or Tara to cancel."

"You're telling me that I should give up?"

"No, not at all. Ron would be a great boyfriend, just ask Kim, they were boyfriend/girlfriend for most of the 7th grade. Just be prepared to be persistent."

* * *

Crystal eased down into the hot water with the ridiculously small towel folded and sitting on top of her head.

"This is great," she sighed.

"It would be better if Yoriko were here instead of Mrs. Stoppable. She would let us all soak in the same tub," Justine grumped as she blew her boyfriend in the other hot tub a kiss., "but no, Hiero couldn't be without his baby-mama-san, so he insisted that she go with him to take Jim and Tim to their uncle's ranch."

After a bit of general gossip, Crystal turned to Kim,

"Do you have any problems with me dating Ron?"

The redhead looked startled, but quickly recovered, "I don't own Ron, who he dates is up to him." After a pause she answered the real question, "I think you wouldn't mistreat Ron, so I wouldn't tell Ron not to date you or anything like that."

"Is Ron a good guy to date?" the question was asked quietly, "Is there anything I need to watch out for?"

"I don't know," the redhead looked uncomfortable with the topic, "I've been his friend forever. He's a nice guy, he was a good boyfriend, he's not going to yell at you or try to coerce you to do anything you don't want to do or anything like that. He used to be sort of a little bit of a slacker, but something lit a fire under him for the last couple of years."

"I bet it's Yoriko, she a real taskmaster." said the potential girlfriend.

"Maybe. I did hear that some girl started running and sparing with him, maybe that had something to do with it?" Kim grinned at the dark-haired girl. "Anyway, he might be gone for time to time on missions. You went on the last one, you might not want to go on future ones."

"Why is that?"

"Ron worries a lot. On our first trip riding on Killigan's airship, he woke up and practically ripped off my nightshirt, looking for blood. He had a nightmare that I had been shot. You might find that Ron will sleep better at night if you stay at home, safe."

The discussion turned to past missions and general happenings at school.

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, Ron's house, Sunday Morning (technically), 1:30 AM)**

"Psst! Crystal, wake up, I need you," Justine gently shook her, "be quiet, don't wake up Kim, she needs the sleep."

Kim watched them through slitted eyes. The pair slipped out of the den and headed for the basement.

She felt like she should object to anyone dating "her Ron", but was distracted by an itch on her arm.

"Good luck, Ron," she murmured, rolled over, scratched the sparkling itchy patch on her arm and went back to sleep.

"What are we doing?" Crystal whispered to the blonde genius

"Bishop, the house Artificial Intelligence, does not allow anyone to soak in a tub by themselves. Three is better. I want to soak with Mike. I am working on getting him used to more physical contact with me. Nothing outrageous, just touching places that jogging shorts don't cover."

"So, I'm just supposed to sit there while you two make out?"

"Don't be gross," Justine opened the door to the baths, pointing to the tub farthest from the door where a blond was already soaking.

"You wanted to talk to Ron, alone is probably best if you want to do some assault with lips."

* * *

**Author's notes**

My special thanks to **Uberscribbler** and **Mindless Violence Fan** for their PMs around the first of the year. Their messages greatly lifted my spirits.

disctionarydotcom defines frisson as "a sudden feeling or sensation of excitement, emotion, or thrill."

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

ST103, CB73, and Daccu65 continue to help with story ideas. Thanks guys!


	15. Weasels and Great Apes

**Finite Middletons (Freshman year, Ron's basement, Sunday Morning (technically), 1:40 AM)**

"You can't avoid seeing nudity down here in the baths, just don't stare," Justine said as she led Crystal into the shower area of the "Japanese Onsen" in the Stoppable basement. Stepping under a shower, she added, "You don't need to wash your hair if you don't intend to get it wet in the bath, just pin it up. It's OK to drip on the floor, try not to drip back into the bath. Remember that the idea is to keep the bathwater clean."

The blonde genius quickly washed off, wringing the water out of her hair and grabbed her entirely too-small towel. "The water is warm and toasty, Bishop upped the mineral content, so the water is nearly opaque. The faster you get in the tub, the more comfortable you'll be."

Crystal watched the wet blonde drip across the floor toward the tub with her overly large boyfriend. Was that a little sway in the hips of the uber-serious physicist? She started to doubt just how closed Mike's eyes were when she saw a small smile appear on his face.

Starting to feel like a voyeur, she turned to look at the far tub containing a blond young man leaning back relaxed with his towel covering his eyes.

"I can do this!" she thought to herself, slipping off her clothes, putting them on a shelf, and stepping under the warm water in the shower.

Ron leaned back in the hot tub and listened. Kim had talked to him briefly, right before bed, telling him to remember to be a man, not a horn dog, and don't hurt anyone's feelings. He had just dropped off to sleep when Big Mike woke him up. He needed Ron to get him into the baths without the house Artificial Intelligence "Bishop," warning the household about someone bathing alone.

"Really, Mike?" Ron complained, "It's not like you two are a secret. I'm surprised Mrs. Kravitz hasn't taken a garden hose to you guys when you walk past her house on the way home after school."

"Justina isn't that bad, and uh," Big Mike quietly said, "do you have my copy of your new swimwear ready for me?

"Yeah," Ron replied, "it took twelve yards of neoprene, but it's ready. You want it now?"

"Yes," the big man looked a little nervous, "and bring yours."

Ron immediately smelled a setup. "But I'm leaving as soon as Justine gets there, right? I'm not up for trying to ignore you guys being all kissy-face."

"I might need someone around to keep Tina from getting carried away…" mumbled Mike. The same guy who would have easily resisted the combined and individual advances of the entire Swedish Bikini Team plus all the Tri-City Cheer squads, but melted at the merest glance from his 'Tina.

Ron slipped into the farther hot tub, leaving the one closer to the doors for Mike and his instructor in the gentle, mostly innocent, intimate arts. Soon a thin blonde accompanied by a wavy-haired brunette walked in. The sunlight spectrum lamps in the shower area showed a red tint to her dark brown hair. It was his running buddy Crystal. "So this isn't a setup? Or have I missed a clue somewhere?" the young man thought uneasily.

Closing his eyes and leaning back, he listened. He heard the soft murmur of the two girls briefly talking, then one shower shut off. The second ran another couple of minutes. He heard dripping, probably one of them was wringing the excess water out of their hair. He didn't hear any footsteps. Yoriko had them practice walking silently, and when it came to running and martial arts, his running buddy was a quick study. The room wasn't silent, and he focused on the small sounds of the air conditioning, water pumps, and filters. He could tell someone was approaching by the way their body blocked some sounds and reflected others. Yoriko was much better than he was at all things Ninja. She would have accurately determined direction and distance.

"Ron, may I join you?"

Showtime.

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment on Mount Middleton, Small Courtyard / Climbing Wall, Monday, 10 AM)**

"Falling!" Crystal's scream echoed off the rock walls. She had been so close to the end of her climb that she had skipped attaching the last two carabiner clips securing her safety rope to the rock wall. The clips would effectively anchor her safety line to the anchor rings in the wall. Surely, she could make the last stinking, twenty feet without slipping. She was wrong. The extra distance she was going to fall was going to extract a price from her partner who was belaying her on the ground below, herself, or maybe both of them…

Ron slammed into the rock face, yanked off his feet by the jerk from Crystal's rope. But he didn't let go, stopping her fall safely. Jessica ran over and put her arms around the banged-up blond, helping to get him steady on his feet.

"Sorry!" called down the brown-haired girl.

"Not a problem," called back her tall blonde teammate, "If Ron had been paying attention to your hands and feet instead of your butt, he would have seen your fall starting and been able to brace himself properly. Do you want to be raised or lowered to get back on the climb?"

"Raise me about two feet, and I'll be good to go," was the reply.

"Hey, her butt falls just as fast as the rest of her. Not that I was watching it," protested Ron.

Together, they pulled their climber up two feet, where she grabbed onto the wall and began to regain her lost vertical distance.

"That was close, were you scared?" a dark-haired girl asked as an older Ninja reached out to help Crystal up onto the platform.

"Nah, it's just like cheerleading except Ron has a roped tied to me to help him with spotting. So, Hope, what are you doing here? Thinking of leaving the cheer squad?"

"Bonnie sent me over to see how you and Tara are doing, and maybe suggest that you come back if you weren't happy."

"Me and Tara?" Crystal's voice was a little dubious.

"Well, OK. Bonnie really wants Tara to come to manage the non-traveling squad, but we miss you too." Looking over the wall, they watched Ron walk over and pick up a different rope dangling down the wall.

Crystal lifted that rope off the edge and started to attach it to her harness when the older Ninja cleared his throat.

"Really, Ichiro-san?" she asked, "Like you haven't already checked it a dozen times today? If you were going to kill me, you would pick a more subtle approach than a loose knot on the anchor rope."

"Crystal-san," he replied with a straight face, "next time I might not be here to check your rope. Maybe I'm not here now, but I'm an evil impostor who's infiltrated the school."

"OK," Crystal wasn't annoyed. There was something about these older Ninja, something that made her trust them and want them to trust her. She walked over and checked the knots of the anchoring lines. Everything was tight.

"Please check my harness Ichiro-san," she asked politely.

The Ninja carefully examined her harness and how the rope connected to it. After making a minor adjustment on a leg strap, he leaned over the wall and called out, "Ready!"

Ron's reply was immediate, "On belay!"

Crystal stood with her back to the edge and said, "Hope, come down and find me. I've got an hour of free time; we can get a soda and talk." She then looked down to make sure her rope wasn't tangled, hopped off the edge, and bounded down the wall.

"Miss?" the Ninja held up what looked like a harness, "it is a lot of stairs to get to the ground, there is an easier way…"

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment, Conference Room A, Monday, 10 AM)**

"Relax, Tina, Ron caught her, and we'd have heard him swear if he had been pulled into the wall too hard," Mike Little had turned to look out the window as soon as she heard Crystal scream. He had been sitting in a window seat working on a reading assignment while waiting for his girlfriend to finish her meeting so they could take a turn on the climbing wall.

"OK, Mikey, if you say so, but I don't think that Ron Stoppable swears," Justine Flanner replied from the table where she was going over graphs and equations with Mr. Gray.

"It's not very inventive swearing, but a single growled 'Dammit' still counts," pointed out the thin alien.

"These equations make no sense, time travel is impossible!" the young physicist declared, pushing back from her seat.

"This term of the equation is often misinterpreted," Gray pointed to a spot on a page covered in mathematical symbols. "This is not a constant, but the root of a variable derived from phi and gamma."

The young physicist glared at the page as if it were purposefully keeping knowledge from her, then glared at the alien,

"Are you sure? You've said that you're not a mathematician or physicist."

"I've never claimed those skills, but I was in the room when the Master Physicists were explaining these equations to their senior students, and those students often made this mistake."

Justine furiously updated code using her smartphone, and then after her phone generated new information, she wrote a note in a notebook. Pausing with her brow furrowed, she said,

"Wait, that can't be right. If that were true, the universe is doomed, no cycles, no rebirth," she furiously scribbled in a margin, "Ladies and Gentlemen, one show only…"

"Then it is truly fortunate that we were born in the short interval where the universe existed, yes?"

Mike walked over and started massaging his beloved scientist's shoulders with massive, loving fingers.

"How much time do we have left?" he asked.

"Huh?" the young woman had sagged onto the table cradling her head on her arms, made suddenly boneless by her boyfriend's soothing grip.

"How long until the universe dies?" he repeated.

Dragging herself back up into a sitting position by sheer force of will, Justine scribbled notes on paper for nearly a minute while entering numbers into her phone. When the phone beeped, she looked at the display and answered, "Ninety-two point seven billion years, plus or minus a half billion years."

"Then we have time to climb the wall and a walk on the beach," the large young man said, physically picking up the slender girl and carrying her, giggling, toward the door.

"She'll be back in an hour, her mind all rested and ready to look at equations again, Mr. Gray," said Mike as the pair left the room.

"Maybe two hours," Gray heard a laughing Justine call back as they went out of his sight.

"Humans," muttered Gray, "So erratic, yet everyone wants some of them on their team."

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment, Sub-basement under Small Courtyard, Monday, 10 AM)**

Yoriko stifled a yawn as she watched Kimberly sitting in a recliner with Rufus sitting on her lap in his best, naked molerat Lotus Position. Before she was pregnant, a trip to deliver Tim and Jim to their uncle Slim's ranch and back would have been considered a relaxing duty. Now, it tired her out. She had wanted to stay in Middleton, but she allowed Hiero's desire to not let her out of his sight for more than an hour or two to override her desire to see to Ronald and Kimberly's MMP training. The truth was that she felt a little clingy to her "baby-daddy-san" as she had heard Jim and Tim refer to Hiero.

The morning had started with Ronald and Kimberly going over scrolls under her guidance, but the young man's mind had been too scattered, as they were being blown about by the winds of … passion, maybe? She had seen him without a shirt that morning; she raised an eyebrow at the chew marks on his shoulder but only got an innocent look in return. She had missed something by being away from the Stoppable home Saturday night. Surely an attack of her young charge by a pack of weasels would have made it into the morning report.

She had dismissed him early but kept Kimberly and Rufus to work on mental exercises. She knelt on a mat, watching the pair attempt to mystically travel to somewhere that Rufus wanted to take Kimberly. In a concession to the American inflexibility of knee joints, she had ordered several recliners to allow her students to concentrate on the mental and mystical without the pain from the physical body distracting them.

Seeing a soft blue glow surround the pair, she gracefully stood up. Eastern or Western body, it felt like her "chosen one" was choosing to bounce on her bladder. As she left the room, she spoke to her 'baby-daddy-san,' "Please watch them and see that they do not become distressed. I will return momentarily."

Hiero reached out and gave her a quick kiss. 'Some parts of Western Culture should be embraced,' she told herself.

Kim looked around as a jungle came into focus. She was standing in a small clearing caused by a fallen tree. Rufus was standing on the tree on his hind legs with his front legs raised over his head in the universal small-child sign language request for "pick me up."

She picked her smallest partner up and placed him on her shoulder. "Rufus, are you OK? Where are we?"

She seemed to hear static, which slowly faded as Rufus settled on her shoulder, leaning against her neck.

"The MMP lives here," a small but clear voice squeaked, "Kim, meet Kala, the embodiment of the MMP, Kala, this is Kim, she is my friend and an ally of the MMP."

Kim turned to see a huge animal of the ape family had appeared in front of her. She would later learn that it was a Mangani, the largest and most advanced of all the species of apes. Her second impression that not only was it considerably taller than her, but it was also at least three times her weight. She even guessed correctly that it was a fully grown, adult female. Her first impression was that her Kung Fu skills would be of no use should this ape be unfriendly.

"Where is the boy, rat?" the Mangani growled, "I would speak to my host."

"Mind your manners, Kala," an enormous black panther walked up, rubbing against the Mangani's leg, "This is his mate and the power flows through her. That is most strange. I thought she was supposed to be the Chosen One."

"She was," either a Mangani has a naturally growly voice, or this one was still annoyed, "the Mystical Monkey Monk said that the next Chosen One would be female and be able to break the curse. I will have a word with that fool when I see him next."

"Is there somewhere we could sit down and discuss this? I'm afraid that I've been reading scrolls of prophecy and MMP lore all morning, but none of this seems to be remotely familiar." Kim desperately wanted to channel this mystical meeting into something calmer, somewhere where she didn't feel like this giant angry ape threatened her life. Somewhere that she could ask about the "mate" comment.

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment, Sensei's Conference Room (the one with the big fireplace), Monday, 10 AM)**

"So, if Master Sensei and his people arrive on Friday, that gives us the weekend to let them get over jet lag before announcing the exchange program on the next Monday. Do we want Kim and Ron both going to Japan as two of the exchange students from Middleton?" Subira looked up from the papers and a calendar in front of her and took a sip of coffee. "After all, Ron did have that run-in with Fukushima in the previous timeline."

"I think that this Ron can handle him. Plus, we need to keep Kim on the new track. She is starting to get fixated on Josh Mankey, just like in the old timeline, and we don't have time for that. Sending them over together will give them a chance to bond without the distraction of fighting henchmen and dodging death rays," Wendy replied. "Did you see the list of students that they are bringing?"

"Yes, they are bringing our original Team Cobra minus Fukushima plus adding in Katsumi. I worry that they are bringing Katsumi to Middleton too early."

"Nonsense, she is smart, confident, and as adorable as a box of kittens. Wade might be a super genius masquerading as a perfect gentleman. Still, I'm sure that whatever magic made them fall in love will work all over again. We just need to find meaningful tasks for them to work on as a team," the Mistress Sensei sighed and continued, "No, the pair I am worried about is Wanda Wang and Suzy Chin. As I recall, those two were real troublemakers."

"Hmm, as I recall, the trouble was already made, our talent was in tripping over it by accident," Subira grinned at her partner in many crimes.

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment, Small Courtyard w/ Climbing Wall, Monday, 10:30 AM)**

Crystal watched Hope rappel down the smooth wall next to the climbing wall. Ron unhooked her and helped her to take off her harness. After exchanging a few words with him, she jogged over to the picnic table where Crystal was sitting.

"That was fun," she said, "and does everyone get Ron to spot for them, or does he only spot for **special** teammates?"

Crystal pointed to the climbing wall where Ron was helping Big Mike put on a climbing harness under the careful observation of Justine Flanner. She said, "Later when we have more trained climbers, senior climbers can spot for less experienced climbers. Right now, we only have Ichiro helping out. Normally, we'd have a couple of other senior instructor-ninja people here to watch the climbers."

"So, speaking of **special** teammates," Hope grinned to let her friend know that she wasn't getting off the hook that easily, "how are you and Ron doing? The last time we met for lunch, you were going to talk to Ron about filling your vacant boyfriend position, but next time I heard, you were going on a mission with him and Kim. Did you ever get a chance to talk to him? How was the mission?"

"The mission was interesting. We took seventeen tons of transformer and generator parts to a place in Yemen. I looked it up when I got back, Yemen is the bottom of the barrel for how women get treated. We worked for over twenty-four hours straight and then flew home."

"Did you get to fly in a C5A?"

"No! It was a giant dirigible. Maybe it was a zeppelin? Anyway, it was a lighter-than-air ship. Pretty amazing, it had this eccentric old Scotsman as the captain/pilot, and the first officer was his niece. No other crew, I got to be the loadmaster and direct the unloading of all the stuff, with Ron, Kim, and some local guys were my crew."

"That sounds like work!" replied the black-haired girl.

"Well, it wasn't too hard, Kim was embarrassing a lot of these young guys by out-working them. I think Ron put the hurt on some trouble makers. As I said, these people have no respect for women, especially ones that outwork them," Crystal reached into her bag and pulled out a passport and showed it to her friend.

"A Greek passport, were you undercover?"

"Nah, Mom is a Greek citizen, technically I'm a dual citizen, but check this out," she held her passport open to a page and showed Hope the entry and exit stamps."

"Paris, France?! Was that part of the mission?"

"We left Yemen late in the morning. We had been up for like 24 hours straight, so we went to bed and slept until around dinner time. After dinner, we were working on homework when Kate, she's Captain Killigan's niece, said they needed to make a stop for three, maybe four hours early in the morning. She told us that they wanted to meet with some potential clients, and would we mind having breakfast in Paris?"

"Wow, breakfast in Paris, that's so cool!"

"It was too rushed; I really want to go back. We were met at the hangar by some admin types who took our pictures. They put them in these weekly passes for their Metro system," pulling out a small hard plastic token and showing it to her friend. She continued, "this is good for all subway and bus travel in and around Paris. Thirty minutes later, we are at this cafe that Ron knew about. We had fresh-out-of-the-oven pastries with coffee. Kim thought French coffee was weak and ordered an espresso. After that, we stopped at a couple of markets for travel snacks and went back to the airship. I thought everyone we met was polite and friendly - the secret is that when you come up to someone, the first thing out of your mouth must be a cheerful, "Bonjour!" and then you are golden."

"But what about Ron? When did you get to confess your feelings on the mission?"

"I didn't get him alone! Don't get me wrong; the trip back was OK. We finished up our homework in time to stop for dinner at the Captain's castle. But Ron spent his time down in the kitchen cooking with Killigan. Then on the trip back to Middleton, we were either talking about Ron and Kim's past missions or Killigan's misadventures in golfing." Crystal rolled her eyes at the memory.

"So, when did you two get together? I mean, we've been sitting here talking, but your eyes have been on him, not me." The black-haired girl made a show of reaching for the brunette's collar and lifting it a little, "Hmm, is that a bite mark?" she teased.

'What the heck did she and Ron get into?' Hope wondered as Crystal's face showed a flush that went down to her neckline. There was no bite mark on her friend, that really was just a tease.

The flushed young woman looked her friend in the eyes and said, "It was in the Japanese tubs in Ron's basement…" She related her experience:

_Crystal watched the wet blonde drip across the floor toward the tub containing her overly large boyfriend. Was that a little sway in the hips of the uber-serious physicist? She started to doubt just how closed Mike's eyes were when she saw a small smile appear on his face._

_Starting to feel like a voyeur, she turned to look at the far tub containing a blond young man leaning back relaxed with his towel covering his eyes._

_"I can do this!" she thought to herself, slipping off her clothes, putting them on a shelf, and stepping under the warm water in the shower. A quick rinse, including her hair, then she turned the water off, wrung the excess water out of her hair, and padded across the floor toward the tub._

_Holding her towel in front of her for modesty, she walked over to the tub. Looking at her running buddy, she felt her earlier confidence start to fade, and she felt a cold touch of fear travel up her spine. Finally, she said, "Ron, may I join you?"_

_'Don't be stupid, this isn't Ramone, this is Ron Stoppable; Kim and Yoriko both would kick his butt if he mistreated me. No, who am I kidding? This is Ron; he'd never be less than a perfect…"_

_Her mental turmoil was interrupted by Ron speaking, with the towel still over his face._

_"Crystal, are you OK?"_

Hope interrupted her story, "Wait, didn't you take a bath earlier? What was the difference?"

Crystal replied, "There were three of us girls in the same tub, the guys were in the tub on the other side of the room, and Mrs. Stoppable was there. Somehow it felt like a normal get together at a friend's house. Just wetter… And with fewer clothes, but still normal somehow. Late that night, it felt like it was just Ron and me; Justine and Mike were in the other tub on the other side of the room." She continued her story:

_The nervous young woman screwed her courage to the sticking place and replied, "I'm fine. May I join you?" A small voice in her head wondered where the heck one found a 'sticking place?' She told her doubts, "I don't know, but Lady Macbeth swears you can't fail if you stick it there._

_Ron replied, "Sure. Be careful of stepping into the tub, the bottom is lower than the floor, so it's a step-down," her blond target said, not taking the towel off his eyes._

_She looked into the tub; the water looked more like skim milk than water. She certainly couldn't see the bottom. Imagining herself slipping and performing an unplanned, less than graceful, cannonball dive into the tub, she thought she asked, "Could you give me a hand, please?"_

_He held out a hand, his eyes still covered. Folding her towel and placing it on top of her head, she then took his hand. Crystal thought it felt like grabbing an iron railing and noticed how his shoulder muscles stood out as she put her weight on him. With him to steady her, she smoothly slipped into the tub without making a splash._

_"The water doesn't seem as hot as it was earlier," she said, as all her thoughts of witty dialog leading to her confession of her feelings vanished into the night._

_"It's not. The hotter temperature can make you dizzy if you soak too long and then stand up. At night, Bishop turns down the water heaters in case a late-night bather comes in. It also saves a little energy. Were you having trouble sleeping, or did Justine rope you into getting her in so she could make out with Mike?"_

_"Yeah, about that, what's with those two?"_

_"They've been madly and deeply in love with each other for as long as I can remember. Best as I can tell, Justine wants to be more physically intimate with Mike than Mike is comfortable with. She figures that he just needs to be eased into it."_

_"Really? Aren't guys ready to go at the drop of a hat? Isn't there an expression, something about a stiff breeze?" she teased._

_"I think Mike is afraid of hurting her; he's a pretty big guy."_

_"Oh? … Oh! What… Can you take that towel off your face so I can see your eyes, please?_

_She was interrupted by the sound of spraying water followed by a shriek, "Dammit Bishop, I WILL reprogram you! I wasn't touching Mike's private areas! The cold water spray was uncalled for!"_

_"I regret the intrusion, Mistress Flanner," the distinguished artificial voice replied in a tone that implied that it didn't regret hosing down the young genius one bit. "I detected that your left hand was traveling on a trajectory from Master Little's left knee that I projected to put it in grasping position of his..."_

_"It was a TEASE Bishop! I wasn't going to touch it."_

_"Very well, Mistress Flanner, I will adjust my trigger sensitivity. Please carry on."_

_Ron snickered, "When Bishop sounds like a British butler from a movie, that is programming from either Kim's Uncle or her dad. Programming intended to protect their daughters from boys."_

_She watched as Ron pulled his towel off his face, folded it up, and placed it on top of his head._

_His eyes locked onto hers. Surely someone with such warm brown eyes wouldn't crush her heart if she showed him a little of it. Throwing caution to the wind, she said,_

_"Ron, do you like me? Because on our last date…"_

_Warm eyes suddenly turned panicked,_

_"Wait, we've been dating? Those were dates?! Why didn't anyone tell me? I didn't know! I should have brought you flowers! I should have showered to get rid of the chlorine smell the time I left straight from the pool…"_

_"Ron, it's OK," she surprised herself with her boldness, putting her fingers on his lips to quiet him. She took a breath and continued, "I liked hanging out and doing things with you as your running buddy. But I was worried that you didn't see me as a girl because you never tried to kiss me. I like you; I like you a lot. Can we give the boyfriend/girlfriend thing a try?"_

_"What does that mean to you? What do you want me to do differently?" A warm hint of relief rapidly replaced the panic in his eyes._

_Relieved herself at how easy this was, she replied, "No big changes, just cuddling, and maybe kissing, stuff like that. We can start slow and see where things go from there."_

_"I'm all about the cuddles and kisses," the young man reached out and pulled his putative girlfriend into his lap…"_

"Wait, you were both naked, and you sat on his lap?" Hope sounded deliciously scandalized.

"No!" Crystal laughed, "the goof had on a neoprene kilt! He claimed that it was an experimental SCUBA-kilt, but it wasn't working out. It was nice and smooth to sit on, though," she replied, blushing even deeper, remembering the ensuing make-out session with her more-than-a running buddy. They started with him cradling her in one arm, but she found that too restrictive. She boldly turned around, straddling his lap, freeing both of her hands to let her hands examine the muscles in his shoulders and back, putting her lips closer to his body, allowing her to taste his skin as she nibbled on his neck and shoulder. Ron's gentle caresses in places that were generally "safe" repaid her boldness. Another night, she might want more, but that night, her ability to be in control of what happened during this simple introduction to her protective, caring knight was what she needed. The fact that the house A.I. might hose them down with cold water didn't enter into her thoughts until much later.

"Ron is," she tried to think of how, to sum up, her experience, "simply amazing, a great guy," she sighed.

She was saved from further questioning by a cry from the climbing wall.

* * *

"Falling!" Mike's bellow echoed off the rock walls. He made the last twenty feet without a slip and without connecting his rope to the last several safety clips. He was at the top when he winked at the senior Ninja, then yelled his warning and fell backward in a perfect dive.

Justine had been expecting something like this the entire climb and was just starting to believe that Mike wasn't going to screw around when she heard him yell.

"Dammit, Mike!" she grumbled as she stepped back and prepared to hop into the air. Her timing was perfect. When the rope connecting her and her massive boyfriend snapped tight, she was ready, letting the safety line snatch her off the ground and swing her against the rock wall. Justine landed lightly with her feet against the wall instead of the full-body slam her predecessor had suffered. She took two steps up the wall as her weight and the rope running through the friction block brought her BF to a stop.

She was slowly lowered toward the ground as Mike reached out with one hand, grabbed a handhold, and started climbing the wall again. His strength was impressive. He had to climb about six feet using just his arms until he could get to a place where he could use his feet.

Justine looked down at her blond friend, who was standing by in case she needed help.

"Well, Ron, I hope you were paying attention, because that, my friend, is how you belay a buddy. Any comment on my performance?" the physics genius asked with a small smile, "Say, don't you have a word for it? One that starts with a 'B'?"

Ron stroked his chin thoughtfully. Justine often came off as cold and condescending. He had heard that earlier this year, MIT professors visiting the space center dropped by the school just to get her autograph. But as part of the "Blue Pimpernel Society," a small group of friends that started as an English class study group years ago, he knew better. Well, the condescending part was almost correct. She was so talented in physical sciences and math that she was barely able to keep her sense of superiority under control. But physical activities were something she that worked very hard at, something that didn't come naturally and certainly not easy, so,

"I certainly do. BOOYAH! BOOYAH!" Ron cheered his brainy friend.

**Finite Middletons (Floating Lotus School of Enlightenment, Sub-basement under Small Courtyard, Monday, 11 AM)**

"That was not what I expected at all," the panther said, looking in his bowl of milk at the image of the young red-haired woman get up a little unsteadily from an odd-looking chair.

"No it wasn't," replied the Mangani, her voice now smooth and comforting as one would have expected from a maternal protector and teacher of young ones, "It is a little distressing that she cannot command the MMP, but is the key to accessing it. I believe that has never happened in the long years that we have seen mystical monkey masters come and go."

"These might be shorter-lived than usual if they don't realize how much they need each other, grumped the panther.

"maybe I can impress the need for the two of them to be a mated pair on the boy," pointed out Kala, "and the true chosen one will be born soon. If she can break the curse, then our roles on this become academic."

"The girl has rejected the boy twice already, I fear a third time will doom them as a couple."

The Mangani looked thoughtful, "There is nothing that says they even have to like each other to support each other."

"Must be a primate thing…"

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Sentinel103 was a source and inspiration for details of Yamanouchi Ninjas. Specifically Wanda and Suzy (Wendy and Subira)

ST103, CB73, and Daccu65 continue to help with story ideas. Thanks, guys!

Mindless Violence Fan who reminds me that at the end of the day, Kim and Ron must have each others back.


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